Purrfectly Normal Behavior
by glainfach
Summary: Ranma x Aishiteruze Baby crossover. I've always felt sorry for Shampoo, she seems so starved for affection. I wanted to see what would happen if she met up with anime's cutiest five year old... while in cat form! You asked for more, so now there is!
1. Chapter 1: The Short Story

**Purr-fectly Normal Behavior**  
by Juliet Carnell  
based on Ranma ½ by Takahashi Rumiko & Aishiteruze Baby by Maki Youko

"What an adorable cat!" cried out the woman.

"Well, will you look at that," said her companion, "Is that a Siamese? I thought all Siamese were short haired?"

"No, I think the breed is called Balinese, dear. They are different from Siamese," the woman knelt down and extended her hand to the longhaired white cat with black paws and ears, "She's beautiful, she must be a show cat. Look someone's even put hair ornaments in her fur. Hello there, are you lost?"

Shampoo glared at the woman. After all she had been through this morning, was she now expected to put up with this humiliation as well? The woman tried to scratch Shampoo's head and she decided that enough was enough. She hissed at the woman and dropped into the best fighting stance she could muster with four, fifteen-centimeter long, legs.

The woman snatched back her hand and quickly stood up, "Oh my!

The man put his arm protectively around her and said, "Stay away from that thing Dear. Vicious animals like that shouldn't be allowed to roam wild in the streets." They both hurried off as Shampoo continued to glare after them.

"_You have no idea just how vicious I can be mister!_" she thought in fury. Shampoo turned back down the unfamiliar street and stalked off. This was swiftly becoming the worst day of her life, it had started off bad and was growing worse by the moment.

Cologne had been up all night working on some spell or other and from the way she had yelled at Shampoo and Mousse all morning it had obviously not gone well. Shampoo had tried to remain calm as Cologne ordered her to do one trivial task after another, but she was already worked to a frazzle when Ranma and Akane walked in off the street. Delighted that her Airen had come to take her on a date at last, Shampoo had greeted him warmly with a big hug. As usual he had not returned her affections and then the Angry Girl had attacked her.

Shampoo felt wholly justified in responding to the unprovoked attack, but her Airen had once again dishonored her by scooping Akane into his arms and running off with her over the rooftops. Shampoo had taken chase and after half an hour was just about to catch them when Ranma dodged a diving grab that sent her flying past them, crashing through a hedge and sliding head first into a koi pond in someone's backyard.

She had dragged herself from the pool, her fur drenched, only to hear Ranma complaining to Akane that Shampoo must have given up the chase. Incensed that her Airen would think of her as a quitter she crashed through the hedge to confront him, but that had been a mistake. Ranma took one look at Shampoo's cat form, screamed in fright and disappeared into the distance with Akane hot on his heels.

Cold, wet and frustrated, Shampoo had soon realized that she was also lost. The frantic chase across the rooftops had taken so many twists and turns that she couldn't be certain if she was miles from the Nekohanten or just a few blocks away. Asking for directions in her current form was out of the question and unless hot water was to start falling magically from the sky she was stuck as a cat until she could find her way home.

After several hours of walking through unfamiliar neighborhoods and fending off the advances of more than one tomcat, she had turned down a street that looked vaguely familiar. She estimated that it was around three o'clock and if she didn't find a landmark she recognized soon, she was going to be late for the dinner rush as well as having missed all of lunch. She had just passed a school building that looked somewhat familiar when she was suddenly lifted from the ground.

Shampoo found herself being crushed in a vise like death grip. What horrible hell-beast had penetrated her defenses so easily? Why was it even now squeezing the life out of her? Was this the end of the Amazon legacy? No! She had to fight back in any way that she could. She let her claws slide out and lock into place as she tensed her body to spring at the first sign of weakness. She was ready… ready to kill whatever vile evil had taken hold of her…

"Hello Neko-chan!"

Shampoo blinked her eyes, "_What?_"

"My name is Yuzuyu. Neko-chan is a pretty kitty."

Shampoo retracted her claws and breathed a sigh of relief. Going by the sound of the voice the girl was no more the four or five years old.

"Pretty… kitty… pretty… kitty… pretty… pretty…"

The death grip across Shampoo's chest relaxed a bit as the little girl bounced up and down in time to her singing. Shampoo realized that even though the girl was holding her at chest level, Shampoo's hind paws were touching the ground every time she bounced. The girl couldn't be much taller than Shampoo was long. Still singing the same cadence, the little girl started carrying Shampoo towards the entrance of the preschool.

"Yuzuyu show Neko-chan to teacher."

Shampoo was not looking forward to that. In her experience adults were not as kindly towards stray cats as children were. She looked through the doors and standing in the school's genkan was a young woman wearing a smock with her black hair done up in pigtails. As they approached the woman turned around and looked at them.

"Yuzuyu-chan! What do you have there?"

"Yuzuyu has new friend Neko-chan."

The young woman knelt down in front of them. "Well hello there Neko-chan," then she scratched Shampoo between the ears. Shampoo wondered if her red cheeks were showing through the fur. "Yuzuyu-chan, that's not a very polite way to hold Neko-chan. Why don't you put him down and I'll show you the right way to pick up a cat."

"_Um… Take a good look woman, I'm a girl._"

"Okay!" the little girl said. She lowered Shampoo to the floor, but never really let go of her.

Then the teacher reached out and put one hand under Shampoo's chest and another behind her back legs and lifted her up, "This is how you do it Yuzuyu-chan. Do you think you can do this?"

"Yes!" cried the little girl.

The teacher put Shampoo back down and for one second she had the opportunity to make a run for it, but a funny thing happened. Something inside Shampoo didn't want to get away. Before her better sense could override the strange feeling, Yuzuyu had her arms wrapped around Shampoo again and was lifting her up. This time she held Shampoo more gently, "Is that better Neko-chan?"

Shampoo swiveled her head up to look at the little girl's face for the first time. She had huge watery brown eyes, a small button nose and light brown hair in pigtails held by red ball ornaments. The human part of Shampoo's brain instantly provided a description, "Sooo cute!"

"Yuzuyu-chan, do you know how to pet Neko-chan?" asked the teacher.

The little girl nodded enthusiastically and with her right hand began stroking Shampoo's fur from head to tail. Unconsciously Shampoo's tail relaxed and flopped down over Yuzuyu's arm. It just felt so good to have her fur stroked like this.

"He likes you Yuzuyu-chan," said the teacher.

"He does?"

"Yes, try scratching him gently between the ears"

"_I'm a girl you moron!_"

"Like this?" Yuzuyu's tiny fingers began to massage the soft spot at the base of Shampoo's left ear and she reflexively moved her head towards the motion. Yuzuyu giggled and then wrapped her arm around Shampoo again.

"Don't squeeze Neko-chan too tight," cautioned the teacher.

"Okay!" Yuzuyu hugged Shampoo and buried her face into the soft white fur at her neck. Suddenly, Shampoo felt something strange come over her. Deep in her chest a rumbling began that she didn't know how to control. She didn't know if she _wanted_ to control it. Within seconds she was purring and she was enjoying it!

"Neko-chan makes funny noises."

"He's purring, that means he really likes you."

Shampoo glared at the teacher, "_How many times do I have to tell you that I'm a girl?_" but it came out as "Nyow!"

A worried look came over the teacher's face. "Okay Yuzuyu-chan, I think it's time to put down Neko-chan and get ready for Kippei-san to take you home."

"Kippei-onii-chan! Yeah!"

Without warning Yuzuyu dropped Shampoo and went running off back into the school. Shampoo just stood there, shocked by the sudden change in mood. The teacher looked at the cat and frowned, something in its eyes had disturbed her. "Okay you, shoo!" She reached over and pushed Shampoo towards the door.

"_Easy! I get the message._" Shampoo stuck her tail in the air and walked slowly out the door, making sure to mark it with a head rub on her way.

Shampoo continued on her way down the street, still trying to get her bearings. The preschool had looked vaguely familiar and if she could just find one more landmark she recognized she should be able to figure out where she was.

She tried to put the incident with the little girl out of her mind, but it kept coming back to pester her. Why had being held by that little girl felt so good? Her curse had always been a bad thing, something she hated. Hating her cursed form, no matter how useful it was sometimes, had been the only thing keeping her sane throughout this whole ordeal. How could any sane human being actually enjoy being a cat?

And yet, Yuzuyu had hugged her. She was always trying to hug her Airen, but did he ever hug her back? Ranma only ran away from her when she was in cat form. She certainly got no such affection from her great-grandmother as a girl or a cat. Mousse would hug her if she asked him to, but the idea creeped her out. The Angry Girl was always hugging other girls, even that Big Spatula girl, but did she ever once think of hugging Shampoo? Did _anyone_ ever want to hug Shampoo?

Suddenly, looming before her, Shampoo spotted a convenience store she recognized. She glanced back down the street to the preschool and it too now looked familiar. "_Yatta! I know where I am!_"

o o o

Mousse was busy cooking ramen as fast as he could. Cologne was on the warpath because Shampoo had not shown up for work that afternoon. He had already managed to drop three orders and trip over five customers while he was attempting to play waiter, so he was not looking forward to another excursion into the dining room.

Even so, when the sullen cat ambled into the kitchen and rubbed against his leg, he was not pleased. "Where the hell have you been? Cologne is fit to be tied." He tossed a towel into the corner and picked up the kettle. He waited as the cat hesitantly approached her rendezvous with hot water. "Hurry up Shampoo, I'm busy!"

The cat crawled under the towel. Mousse poured the hot water over her and turned away. Shampoo quickly dried her hair with the towel and then wrapped it around herself.

"So," Mousse said, "what held you up this time?" He waited for a smart remark, but none came. He turned around and found Shampoo standing by the rear door with a gloomy look on her face. Mousse was taken aback. He had rarely ever seen his Shampoo this sad before. "Are… are you okay?"

Shampoo looked at her myopic friend, "Shampoo fine, go find clothes in morning. Probably not there, get stolen again. Nice jacket… Shampoo really… liked." The young Amazon ran from the kitchen.

Mousse couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn Shampoo was crying!

o o o

The next day Shampoo spent the morning searching the restaurant for some reason to go to the store. She finally resorted to hiding a couple of soy sauce bottles under one of the booth seats in the dinning room. Cologne was suspicious, but the customers often swiped the soy sauce from the tables so she sent her great-granddaughter off with a stern warning to be back on time or else.

Shampoo had no trouble finding the convenience store again and in human form it hadn't seemed quite so far away. She only bought one bottle of soy sauce and that was just to get the plastic bag with the store name on it. She would bring out the hidden bottles once she returned to the Nekohanten.

Outside the store, she stood and looked down the street at the modern façade of the preschool. "_This is just silly,_" she thought, "_A girl that age will have forgotten all about me by now._" She sighed and tried to come up with even one good reason for taking the long way home that went past the preschool. Then she heard the distant sound of crying.

She walked down the street and the closer she came to the school, the louder the crying became. Finally she heard a familiar voice scream, "Yuzuyu wants Neko-chan!" Shampoo quickened her pace and stopped just short of the front gate. Peeking over the fence she could just see the front doors and the two teachers kneeling there. Yuzuyu's crying was much louder now.

Suddenly she heard the sound of running footsteps behind her and with the lightening speed of the Amazon martial arts she scaled the fence and climbed into one of the trees before the tall blond boy running down the sidewalk had even noticed she was there. With her battle senses activated she quickly evaluated this adversary and he was no threat. He was barely jogging and yet he was out of breath. He was thin for his age and he ran as one not used to athletic pursuits.

She watched as he turned into the courtyard of the preschool and heard Yuzuyu stop crying. Shampoo inched her way through the branches of the tree making no sound whatsoever. She found a position where she could comfortably watch what was going on and saw the teachers talking to the young man.

"Kippei-san we're sorry. Yuzuyu found a stray cat out here yesterday and now she is upset that it is not here again today."

"That is Kippei-san?" whispered Shampoo to herself.

"Oh, I see. Well that can't be helped I guess." The boy knelt down in front of Yuzuyu, "So, what's with this face? Is this any way to greet me?"

Yuzuyu sniffed and said, "Neko-chan went away. Neko-chan hates Yuzuyu!" Something icy cold stabbed at Shampoo deep inside.

"Now then, is that so? Are you sure Neko-chan didn't just have to run an errand today?" Shampoo started at that, she looked at the plastic convenience store bag in her hand with wide eyes.

Yuzuyu sniffed again, "Maybe… maybe Neko-chan come back tomorrow?"

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see. How about we stop by the store and get some caramel on the way home?"

Yuzuyu brightened, "Yeah! Yuzuyu likes caramels Kippei-onii-chan buys!"

The boy straightened up and addressed the teachers again, "Sorry about that, I'll talk to her on the way home."

"It's okay," said the teacher with the black pigtails, "I shouldn't have encouraged her yesterday. Sorry."

"Say good bye Yuzuyu."

"Good bye teacher!"

Shampoo waited until the boy and the little girl had walked past before she dropped out of the tree onto the top of the fence. As silently as she could, she tracked them back to the convenience store and followed them inside. They went straight for the candy aisle while Shampoo pretended to examine hair care products in another. When Yuzuyu had picked out the candy she wanted they went to the counter to pay and Shampoo drifted to the magazine rack by the window.

The boy also had brown eyes and the blond hair didn't look all that natural. There was definitely a family resemblance to Yuzuyu so he probably was her older brother. She noted with interest the several ear piercings he had, that was something she rarely saw the students from Furinkan High with… even the girls!

From behind a magazine she watched as Kippei knelt outside the store and unwrapped a caramel for Yuzuyu. Then they walked hand in hand down the street in the opposite direction from the Nekohanten. Shampoo sighed. She supposed they lived just outside the Furinkan district so he must attend a different high school. The uniform was certainly different.

There was the sound of a throat being cleared behind her and she turned to find the proprietor of the store staring at her, "Are you going to buy that?" he said nodding at the magazine in her hand. She actually looked at it for the first time and discovered that it was an adult magazine.

She tossed it at the man and cried out, "Pervert!" He turned red in spite of himself and she quickly made her escape.

o o o

The next afternoon Shampoo sat in the middle of a small stand of bushes behind the fence across the street from the preschool. The laughter of happy children playing in the schoolyard floated in on the wind and mocked her fear. Beads of sweat broke out across her brow as she stared at the hateful thing she held tightly in her left hand. It was only a bottle of cold spring water, but Shampoo held it like a live hand grenade for which she had lost the safety pin.

Why had she bought such a thing in the first place? She had stood in front of the vending machine a full ten minutes before putting the 100-yen coin into the slot with shaky fingers. She had waited until no one was in sight before pressing the button and snatching the bottle out of the delivery bin. Then she had run away quickly before anyone could witness her shame.

It was a simple enough thing. She knew that Ranma did it all the time, she even suspected that Ryoga did it too when he needed a cuddle from the Angry Girl, but she was different, she was an Amazon warrior and should be above such weakness. Still… memories of being held in the little girl's arms had haunted her dreams for the past two nights and the sound of Yuzuyu's tears rang even now in her ears.

"_The best way to dispel a fear is to face it directly._" She carefully put down the bottle of water and began to unbutton her blouse. She folded it carefully and placed it under one of the bushes, then worked her way out of her silk pants. She looked at her under garments and decided that if she was really going to do this it made sense to fold them up too. Sitting there naked, Shampoo felt more foolish than at any other point in her life, but even so she had difficulty picking up the bottle of water again.

She twisted off the cap and sat staring down into the little bottle. She could drink this now and nothing would happen. She could pretend that she had just been thirsty and go home with no regrets, right? She closed her eyes and raised the bottle over her head. It remained there motionless for several agonizing minutes before she found the courage to tip it forward…

Yuzuyu sat forlornly on the front steps of the preschool, her head slowly scanning back and forth across the schoolyard. When Shampoo came sauntering through the front gate, it was like the sunrise had come into the little girl's face. She jumped up and ran to the cat with her arms flung wide, "Neko-chan!" Shampoo surprised her by leaping into her arms, but Yuzuyu recovered quickly and soon was hugging the slightly damp kitty with all the affection Shampoo had remembered.

Shampoo rubbed her head into the little girl's shoulder as Yuzuyu rocked back and forth from shear delight. "Yuzuyu missed Neko-chan! Yuzuyu loves Neko-chan!" Shampoo couldn't get enough of this, she forgot she was an Amazon warrior, forgot that she was engaged to Ranma and trying to kill his girlfriend, she even forgot her curse as she luxuriated in the wondrous sensation of being hugged by a five year old.

One of the teachers noticed Yuzuyu kneeling out near the front gate and went to investigate. As usual her ride had not shown up yet, Kippei-san seemed like a responsible young man, but all the teachers wondered if taking care of Yuzuyu might be stretching the teenager a little too thin. As if in response to her thoughts, Kippei came running into view just as she got to the spot where Yuzuyu was kneeling.

"Good afternoon Kippei-san," said the teacher. She looked down at Yuzuyu and saw the cat in her arms, "Yuzuyu-chan, your ride is here. Is that Neko-chan you have there?"

Ignoring the teacher in her excitement, Yuzuyu looked up at her cousin and shouted, "Kippei-onii-chan! Look! Neko-chan is back!"

Kippei smiled and nodded to the teacher and then knelt down next to Yuzuyu. "So this is Neko-chan is it?" The boy reached over and scratched Shampoo's head and she leaned into his fingers gratefully.

"Um hmm," nodded Yuzuyu, "Neko-chan is Yuzuyu's good friend!"

"She is? Well then it's a pleasure to meet you Neko-chan. May I hold her Yuzuyu-chan?"

"We think it's a male cat," interjected the teacher.

Kippei lifted Shampoo out of Yuzuyu's arms and held her up facing away from him. In spite of being terribly embarrassed by this, Shampoo obligingly lifted up her tail. "Well, I'm not the world's greatest biology student, but I don't think this is a tomcat."

The teacher leaned over and looked too. Shampoo closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself on a warm beach somewhere far far away. "I do believe you are right Kippei-san. It looks like Neko-chan is a girl cat after all."

"Neko-chan is a girl kitty?" asked Yuzuyu. When Kippei nodded she shouted, "Yeah! Neko-chan is a girl like Yuzuyu!"

This long overdue revelation made Shampoo very happy. Especially with Kippei holding her cradled in his arms where she couldn't help but smell his sweat, it smelled of good clean soap and his own sweet odor. She liked it instantly. Kippei began idly petting Shampoo's head as he asked the teacher what she knew about the cat.

"We've never seen it before the other day. It could be a stray," she said.

"She seems harmless enough," he rubbed her ears and she purred more loudly, "Here you go Yuzuyu. Say good bye to your friend, we have to be going home now." Kippei handed Shampoo back to the little girl who hugged her tightly.

"Okay! Good bye Neko-chan!" She crushed Shampoo to her chest and kissed her on the head. Shampoo then reached up and licked Yuzuyu's chin, the little girl started giggling, "Scratchy!" She set Shampoo down again and gave her one last long stroke down the back, then stood up and took Kippei's hand. "Bye, bye!"

Shampoo sighed and looked longingly after the little girl and her cute brother. Her battle sense awakened and reminded her that she was not alone. She glanced back at the teacher who stood with her arms crossed defensively looking down at Shampoo. She looked deeply into the young woman's eyes and saw fear. "_Afraid of cats are you? Too bad because this cat's here to stay for a while._" She sauntered out the gate, turned towards the Nekohanten and thought about how she could get away around three o'clock tomorrow.

A week later Shampoo was cleaning the tables at the Nekohanten, a job she normally detested, but this afternoon she was smiling and humming softly to herself. Cologne noticed her great-granddaughter's odd behavior and suspected the girl was up to something, something Cologne needed to investigate.

o o o

Shampoo stepped out of the jewelry store clutching a small box in her hand, a look of triumph spread across her face. She took off down the street running, she didn't want to be late for work again.

It had taken every free moment she had over the last week to find someone who could do this on such short notice. It had also cost her all of the meager tip money she had collected in the last couple of months, but it would be worth it if her plan worked. She thought about her tip money, she had heard once that it was commonplace in America for people to tip their waitress. She wondered ruefully why this was the one thing from America that had not yet invaded Japan?

She rounded the corner near the Nekohanten and ran straight into someone wearing a red silk shirt, "Excuse please!" she said quickly.

"Hey, watch where yer goin'… Huh… Shampoo?"

Shampoo faced her Airen and the Angry Girl. Ranma as usual braced himself for Shampoo's glomping attack, while Akane dropped into a fighting stance. But Shampoo did not glomp her Airen, instead she looked at him with new eyes. What was it about him she had really been attracted to anyway?

Certainly he was a superb martial artist and it stood to reason he was in top physical condition, but did that alone make him attractive? She looked him over from head to toe as if she were seeing him for the very first time. Black hair… every man in Japan and China seemed to have black hair. Pigtail… was that really a becoming style for a young man? His face looked so much like his girl form that it was creepy. Ears… hmmm… he might look cool with a piercing or two, but who was she kidding? This was Saotome Ranma, man amongst men! He was so paranoid about anything girlish that he would never even consider it. He wasn't that tall and those Chinese clothes he liked to wear were about a century out of style.

Kippei-san on the other hand was tall, blond (even if it was probably dyed) and had a way of looking cool even in a school uniform. And Kippei was kind, look at the way he cared for Yuzuyu! Ranma was nothing but an arrogant jerk. Even Shampoo could see that he treated the Angry Girl like the dirt on his shoes most of the time.

Ranma opened his eyes and looked at Shampoo quizzically. The tension in his body eased a little and even the Angry Girl eased off her ready stance a bit. When Shampoo still failed to attack either one of them, Ranma looked at Akane and shrugged his shoulders. "Hey Shampoo, ya alright?"

Shampoo didn't know what to say or what to do. Her emotions were all confused, "Airen… come… take Shampoo… on date?" and for once it was really a question. One she was asking herself rather than Ranma. Shampoo shook her head in confusion and ran past them down the street.

Ranma and Akane stared after her. "Wa'da ya suppose that was all about?" asked Ranma.

"I'm not sure," replied Akane, "do you think she's sick or something?"

"Or somethin'!"

o o o

Once again Shampoo sat naked in the little copse of bushes across the street from the preschool taking inventory of her supplies. She of course had her bottle of cold spring water, which she now bought from the convenience store down the street at half the price of the vending machine. She also got her Styrofoam cups of hot water there and her collection of unused tea bags was growing steadily. There was a yellow plastic washtub from the 100 Yen store, a towel from the kitchen and a cardboard box to keep it all in.

She set the box on its end and put the washtub halfway inside of it. Then she removed the lid from the cup of hot water and balanced it carefully on top of the box. She had gotten this idea from watching Mousse bump into tables at the Nekohanten, invariably all the water glasses would fall towards him. At first she thought this was just the action of his curse, but after some experimentation with glasses of hot water she determined that it was simply physics. All she had to do was return here after her visit with Yuzuyu, step into the tub and bump her head against the back of the box. The cup would tip forwards and 'splash' she was a girl again. So far it had worked every time.

Turning her attention to the small jewelry box, she opened it and took out a black elastic band from which a small silver pendant dangled. She had found the band at a novelty store, the sign in the window promised that it could expand up to ten times its diameter and never lose its original shape. The pictures had shown it being used as a bracelet, an armband, a necklace and a headband. If things went well today, she might just return to the store and let them know it made a nice cat collar as well.

With a big smile she turned the little pendant over and over in her palm. On one side were engraved the Chinese characters for her real name, Xuam Pu, and on the other side the Katakana of the name she was known by in Japan, Shampoo. She stuck her fingers into the elastic band and pulled it over her head. It caught on her hair a couple of times, but once it was settled around her throat it was comfortable enough, if just a little tight.

With her clothing neatly folded and placed in the plastic bag from the convenience store, she casually picked up the bottle of water and dumped it over her head…

Her meetings with Yuzuyu had fallen into a set routine. Shampoo would wait until most of the other kids had been picked up before sauntering into the schoolyard. Yuzuyu would scoop her up into her arms for the first big hug and then set her down again so that they might wander around the playground together. Anytime Shampoo felt the need for attention, all she had to do was rub up against Yuzuyu's leg and another hug was quick in coming.

Today they had settled into the sand box where Yuzuyu was busy piling up sand into a large mound while Shampoo decorated it with paw prints. She was just thinking it was about time for another hug when one of the teachers called out from the front of the building, "Yuzuyu-chan! Your ride's here!"

Yuzuyu clapped her hands together to brush off the sand and shouted, "Coming!" Then she scooped up Shampoo and ran off towards the front gate. Shampoo reviewed her plan, she would wait until Kippei picked her up as usual and then do everything she could to get him to notice the nametag. Soon 'Neko-chan' would be a thing of past. However, when they rounded the corner of the building they saw the teacher standing by the gate with a tall woman in a tailored suit with a very short skirt. Yuzuyu stopped in her tracks and said quietly, "Onee-chan?"

"Hello Yuzuyu-chan!" the woman shouted. Shampoo gave her the once over, but she was just average looking and her only outstanding feature was her lime-green fingernail polish. As she walked up to them she said, "Put down that cat Yuzuyu and let's go home."

Yuzuyu didn't seem all that happy about it, but she did what she was told, "Good bye Neko-chan!" she said as she set Shampoo down, "Good bye teacher!" and they walked out the gate and off down the street.

Shampoo was devastated. She had been planning this all week. She had waited for her day off just so she could enjoy this. All she wanted was to hear Yuzuyu and Kippei say her name, even just once. Of course she could always try again tomorrow, but it was just so disappointing! That's when her Amazon blood kicked in, "_I can't give up yet!_" she thought. She ran to the gate and saw the pair quickly disappearing down the street. She glanced at the clump of bushes behind the fence across the street where hot water and a human form waited for her. Then she made up her mind and bounded off after Yuzuyu.

o o o

They walked for about twenty minutes without stopping. Shampoo noticed that Yuzuyu had tried to slow down when they passed the convenience store and again when they passed a small park with a playground, but the woman seemed intent on getting home as quickly as possible.

Shampoo marveled at the big homes they passed along the way, to think that such a nice neighborhood existed so close to the Nekohanten without her knowing about it. She and Mousse would have to spread some fliers around over here to try and draw a better clientele into their struggling restaurant.

Soon they came to a stop in front of a substantial if unremarkable home and Shampoo was able to catch up with them. They were standing looking down the street at someone approaching from the other direction. It was Kippei and when Yuzuyu recognized him she screamed, "Kippei-onii-chaaaaan!" and raced off towards him at full speed. He scooped her up in his arms and carried her back to where the woman was standing.

"Thanks for picking her up nee-chan," he said, "I just couldn't get out of cleaning duty today."

"No problem," she said humorlessly, "but don't make a habit of this. Yuzuyu-chan is your responsibility and don't forget it."

They turned towards the house and Kippei glanced up the street to where Shampoo was sitting, "Well, well. Look who came home with you today Yuzuyu-chan, isn't that your friend Neko-chan from school?"

The little girl released her strangle hold on Kippei's neck long enough to look up the street too. Then she suddenly became a squirming mass of arms and legs as she shouted, "Neko-chan! Neko-chan followed us home!" Kippei set the little girl down and she ran off to gather up Shampoo in a big hug. She trotted back a few moments later with the big cat in her arms. "Look onii-chan! Neko-chan came home with Yuzuyu! Neko-chan is Yuzuyu's cat now!"

"_Now just hold on a minute Yuzuyu, let's not get carried away here!_" Shampoo thought nervously.

Kippei and his sister exchanged glances, but it was Kippei that responded, "Yuzuyu, just because Neko-chan followed you home doesn't make her your cat. She already has a home somewhere near the school." He knelt down next to the little girl and started scratching Shampoo's neck, "If you keep Neko-chan, her real family will worry about her. See, she even has a collar with a tag," his hand followed the band around Shampoo's neck and started fingering the pendant.

"_Yatta!_" thought Shampoo, "_All he has to do is read the tag, tell Yuzuyu my name and I might be able to make it back to the school while the water is still hot._"

Yuzuyu's face was a portrait of disappointment, her eyes were watery and she sniffled before saying, "Yuzuyu just wants to play with Neko-chan."

Kippei looked up at his big sister, "Well, nee-chan? It wouldn't hurt to let them play together for a while, would it?"

Shampoo looked up at the woman and noticed that her cast-iron façade had softened considerably with Yuzuyu about to cry, "Well… okay, but _you_ will clean up any mess that it makes. Understand?" She pointed an accusing finger at Kippei.

He swallowed hard and turned back to Yuzuyu, "Okay, you can play with Neko-chan for a while, but then she will have to go home."

"Yeah!" cried out the little girl with glee as she bounded through the gate and up the steps to the front door.

Kippei's sister gave him another withering glance. "What?" he said, "She never followed _me_ home nee-chan!"

o o o

Shampoo and Yuzuyu played in the room she shared with Kippei for the rest of the afternoon as an apparently endless parade of relatives poked their heads in the door to meet Yuzuyu's new friend. Despite all of her attempts to get him to notice the nametag again, Kippei resolutely ignored it and continued to call her 'Neko-chan'.

At one point Yuzuyu pulled out some crayons and paper and started drawing pictures of 'Neko-chan'. Shampoo was impressed with the little girl's drawings, they actually looked like her cat form, right down to the hair ornaments and the silver name tag around her neck.

Eventually Kippei's mother had stuck her head in the door and called them all down to dinner, now Shampoo sat on the floor in the middle of the living room surrounded by three generations of Yuzuyu's relatives.

"What sort of cat do you think she is?" asked Kippei's mother.

"She's a Siamese," said the grandfather authoritatively, "you can tell by the markings."

"Really?" said Suzuko, Kippei's nee-chan, "I always thought Siamese cats were short haired."

"They are," said a young boy walking in from the hallway, "This breed is Balinese."

"How do you know that Satsuki?" asked Kippei with skepticism.

"I just looked it up on the Internet," said Satsuki, "The Balinese is a variation of the Siamese from Southeastern Asia, but this particular cat is from China."

"How do you know that?" asked Suzuko.

"_Yes, just how do you know that?_" thought Shampoo, "_Are you people sure this kid is only twelve?_"

"From her nametag, it's in Chinese characters and it says 'Xuam Pu'," Satsuki said with a deadpan expression.

"Since when do you read Chinese?" shouted Kippei, "No… wait… don't tell me. The Internet?"

Satsuki nodded, "But you don't need the Internet to know what her Japanese name is, it's written in kana on the back of the tag." Then he walked off into the kitchen.

Kippei leaned over and looked at the nametag hanging from her neck, "Shampoo?"

"_Yatta! Finally,_" thought Shampoo triumphantly, "Nyu!"

Kippei's mother laughed, "Well I guess that's her name all right. Yuzuyu-chan, from now on you'll have to call your kitty Shampoo-chan."

"Shampoo?" the little girl looked confused, "Neko-chan is Shampoo-chan?" All the adults nodded and Shampoo walked over to rub her head on Yuzuyu's toes. The little girl giggled and shouted, "Shampoo-chan tickles!"

Everyone laughed and stood up to go into the kitchen for dinner. Shampoo followed them in a daze. Her plan had worked! From now on Yuzuyu would call her by her own name. She sat down and daydreamed of walking into the schoolyard on a sunny afternoon and hearing "Shampoo-chan! Shampoo-chan…"

She was shaken from her reverie by a pair of slipped feet standing right in front of her. She followed the legs up to find Kippei's mother looking down at her, "I'm sorry Shampoo-chan, but we don't have any cat food, so I hope this is okay," she bent down and put a bowl of milk and a plate with a big slab of raw tuna right next to Shampoo, "Help yourself."

Shampoo gazed in wonder at the huge chunk of tuna, "_Cologne would insist on making ten orders out of a thing like this!_" she thought as she eagerly wolfed it down.

"Mother," said Suzuko, "do you think it's a good idea to feed the cat."

"Oh, I don't see how it could hurt. Besides, she's a guest."

o o o

By the time the family was finishing their meal and dispersing through the house, Shampoo was curled up in the middle of the living room fast asleep. Feline bodies were great when it came to agility and speed, but they have very little in the way of stamina. Shampoo had been on the move since three that afternoon and now that she had a full stomach her eyes would not stay open.

Yuzuyu picked her up so gently that Shampoo almost didn't wake up in time to hear Kippei call out from upstairs, "Yuzuyu! Don't forget to take your bath!"

"Okay!" cried out the girl enthusiastically as she marched up the steps with her arms full of very nervous cat.

Ten minutes latter Shampoo stood in the bathroom eying the little girl suspiciously. Yuzuyu had chased her down and dragged her in here, now the door was shut and Shampoo was getting uneasy. Moisture from the steamy bath filled the air and soaked into her fur, she just prayed that it wouldn't be enough to trigger the change.

She heard a noise outside the door and was distracted just long enough for Yuzuyu to grab her and jump into the tub. Shampoo yowled in horror as her hind legs slipped into the hot water. Then she sat there with her eyes tightly shut as she waited for the inevitable scream, but Yuzuyu didn't make a sound. Shampoo opened her eyes to find her human self sitting in the bath facing the little girl whose eyes were as wide as saucers, transfixed by the young purple-haired woman suddenly sharing her bath.

Shampoo noticed that Yuzuyu's eyes were fixed on a spot at her throat. She touched the spot with her hand and felt the little silver nametag. She smiled and Yuzuyu smiled back.

"Shampoo-chan?" whispered the awestruck little girl.

Shampoo nodded and then placed a finger to her lips to silence the child who seemed about ready to burst with excitement. Instead Yuzuyu jumped up and wrapped her arms around Shampoo's neck. "Shampoo is a magic kitty!" she whispered loudly, "Yuzuyu loves her magic kitty!" Shampoo hesitantly folded her arms around the little girl and suddenly there were tears in her eyes as she hugged Yuzuyu tightly.

After a minute like this, Shampoo composed herself. She knew the situation she was in and knew what might happen if she were caught in here by one of the adults. She let go of Yuzuyu and the little girl slid back into the water. She continued to stare in wide-eyed wonder at Shampoo as the young woman reached out of the tub to place the washbasin under the tap and filled it with cold water.

Shampoo contemplated what she should say to Yuzuyu now that she had the chance, but in the end she decided to remain silent. Yuzuyu was at that tender age where it was still perfectly possible for a magical cat to turn into a pretty girl, so why spoil her fantasy with words. Yuzuyu's big smile was all Shampoo needed to see right now anyway.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and it started to slide open. With a speed that defied human detection, Shampoo leapt out of the tub and had the washbasin of cold water dumped over herself before Kippei's mother could stick her head through the door.

"Yuzuyu, you didn't bring Shampoo into the bath with… Oh no!" Yuzuyu was sitting in the bath with a big grin on her face while sitting next to the tub was the most bedraggled soaking wet cat she had ever seen. "Oh Yuzuyu, you shouldn't take Shampoo into the bath, cats don't like water you know."

As if to refute that claim, Shampoo shook herself down from head to tail sending water flying all over the room. Yuzuyu dissolved into giggles and Kippei's mother laughed until her side hurt.

o o o

When Shampoo had gotten into the bed with Yuzuyu, her intention had been to wait until the little girl fell asleep and then quietly make her exit, but her short stint in human form had done little to reenergize the cat and she was asleep herself long before Yuzuyu closed her eyes.

When she awoke a couple of hours later, Shampoo found herself not only wrapped in Yuzuyu's arms, but Kippei's as well. She struggled for a few minutes and managed to free herself without waking up either the little girl or the boy. Now she sat at the foot of the bed and regarded the two sleeping siblings.

When Shampoo had first spotted the sign on the door that said this was Yuzuyu and Kippei's room, she had naturally assumed that there was a futon stored somewhere that the little girl would sleep on, but looking at them now it was clear that they slept in this one bed every night. Shampoo pondered the close rapport between these two, it seemed out of sync with Kippei's relationship to his other siblings.

The whole family seemed to be very quarrelsome by nature except where Yuzuyu was concerned. They all appeared to go out of their way to see that her every whim was catered to, even to the point of letting a strange cat into their home. It was true that the little girl was much younger than her siblings, but that should only get her so far.

Shampoo shook it off, it was getting late and she really needed to be going. She jumped down from the bed and was thankful that Kippei had left the door ajar. After bounding down the stairs, she was trying to decide where an open door or window might be found when she heard voices in the kitchen. Walking in to investigate, she found Suzuko at the table with her mother.

"…and I haven't heard from her since then. Frankly I'm a bit worried about my little sister," said Kippei's mother.

"I'm more worried about what this is doing to Yuzuyu. The longer her mother stays away the stronger her connection becomes to Kippei and our family," said Suzuko, "and now there's the cat on top of it all."

"You really don't want her to keep the cat, do you Reiko?"

"It's not that I don't want her to have a pet. It's that I'm afraid when Miyako-oba-san returns for her, a pet will just be one more string tying Yuzuyu to us. The more there are, the harder it will be for us to cut the cord when she has to leave. Besides, the cat obviously belongs to someone else. That silver nametag didn't come from any cheap pet store."

Understanding dawned for Shampoo. Yuzuyu was not a sibling here, but an abandoned child taken in by caring relatives. She walked back into the hallway and looked up the stairs. Was it any wonder they all treated her with special care? She loped back up the stairs and slid back into Yuzuyu and Kippei's room. Jumping up on the foot of the bed she looked again at the sweet little girl who had lost so much and the young man who had opened his heart for her.

Shampoo sank her claws into the sheets and stretched out her front legs luxuriously. This had been quite a day, one she would always remember fondly. Her hindquarters dropped into the soft folds of the comforter as if it had a mind of its own. She really hated to leave this oasis of calm and caring people and return to her hectic life of martial arts and ramen. She rested her head on her forepaws and contemplated her life. Ranma was a pretty nice guy after all. She liked Kippei, but not _that_ way. Her eyelids became heavy and her tail twitched nervously. "_Tomorrow,_" she thought with a yawn, "_I'll get Airen to go on a date with me. And this time nothing will stop m…_"

o o o

Shampoo awoke some hours later and instantly knew that she was in trouble. The house was quiet and dark as she wandered from room to room looking for a way out. It seemed unthinkable that on a warm spring night, a house in Japan would be closed up like this, but central air conditioning had definitely come to this part of Tokyo. Cologne was going to kill her for being out this late and what was worse, she really, really, really had to go to the bathroom!

She had thought about trying to use the toilet, but it had turned out to be Western style and the lid was too heavy for her to lift. She had also checked the tub, thinking that she could change and then use that nice Western style toilet before letting herself out, but the tub had been drained, probably because it was full of cat hair.

Now she sat next to the front door contemplating the one option she had left. It was extreme, it was dangerous and it was ugly, but what other choice did she have? She raised her head and yowled at the top of her lungs. The sound reverberated through the house like a ghost on a rampage and she cringed at the thought of these nice people being subjected to it, but she did it again and again until at last she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

It was Satsuki and he was still fully dressed, "Leave it to this family to go to bed without putting the cat out. Sorry about that Shampoo, lucky for you I was still up," He reached over and pulled open the front door, "I guess we won't be seeing much of you once you get back to the restaurant."

Shampoo's eyes widened and the fur began to stand up on her neck. Her Amazon training took over and she calmed herself, never show your enemies that they have rattled you.

"Quite a coincidence that there happens to be a placed called the '_Cat_ Café' just over in Furinkan with a Chinese waitress that just happens to be named 'Shampoo'. They serve pretty good ramen there, but don't worry I've never actually seen 'cat' on the menu… yet."

Shampoo stared up at the strange boy. His face was unreadable, just how much did he really know? This kid would fit in well at Furinkan High, perhaps as a new boyfriend for Kuno Kodachi?

Shampoo slipped quickly out of the doorway and didn't look back until she heard the door close. Then she stopped and gazed back at the house, it was a nice house filled with warm and caring people. She wondered if she would ever see it or them again.

She sauntered through the front gate and froze instantly. Across the road, dozing under a street lamp sat Mousse with his back against the light pole. Setting beside him was a familiar looking cardboard box with a yellow plastic washtub sticking out of it. Standing next to Mousse, swinging a handful of unused tea bags and looking very much awake was her great-grandmother, Cologne. At that moment Shampoo was grateful that she had already relieved herself on the lawn.

o o o

Shampoo sat at the table wearing a clean robe and wrung warm water out of her hair with a towel. Cologne had been more than liberal in her application of hot water when they returned to the Nekohanten. Shampoo thought the old woman might just be trying to drown the girl's cat form rather than change her great-granddaughter back into a human.

Cologne sat across the table from the damp teenager and glared at her, "How could you do this Shampoo? How could you bring such shame to your tribe?"

"Shampoo sorry great-grandmother," the girl hung her head until it almost touched the table, "Shampoo not think…"

"That's the problem!" shouted back Cologne, "You don't think! One day you are supposed to lead our people, but how do you expect to do that when you can't even run your own life? This is disgraceful Shampoo, you are embarrassing your people and yourself."

Only years of warrior training kept the tears from Shampoo's eyes as she replied meekly, "Shampoo just not want be lonely any more. Not hurt anybody, honest."

"Not hurt anyone?" shot back Cologne, "What about Ranma? Don't you think this will hurt him?"

"Ranma not need to know!" Shampoo looked stricken. She was truly frightened of having Ranma discover her moment of weakness.

"Don't you think he might notice when you ran off to marry that untrained weakling!" Cologne was red faced with anger and nearly screaming.

"What?" Shampoo tilted her head and looked at her great-grandmother like she had just said that the moon was made of ice cream.

The look on her great-granddaughter's face deflated Cologne's anger a bit, "You know, that blond haired skinny boy you have been running around with as a cat for the last couple of weeks…"

"Kippei?" A smile crept across Shampoo's lips, "Great-grandmother think Shampoo in love with Kippei?" Unable to hide either her relief or her amusement at this, Shampoo actually started giggling.

This was _not_ the reaction Cologne had been expecting upon confronting the girl with her apparent infidelity. With a bit more trepidation she continued, "Well… yes, if that is his name. Do you intend to end your engagement to Ranma in favor of this… Kippei?"

Shampoo was really laughing now, "Shampoo not love Kippei! Shampoo like Yuzuyu!"

Now Cologne was confused! She was also beginning to crack a smile, her great-granddaughter's laughter was contagious, "Then will you marry this Yuzuyu instead of Ranma?"

At this Shampoo rolled with laughter, "Shampoo… not marry… little girl!"

Cologne suddenly realized the mistake she had made, but she was also perplexed. What possible use could Shampoo have for the little sister of the blond haired boy? "Shampoo, what do you mean you _like_ this little girl? What exactly have you been up to great-granddaughter?"

Shampoo looked at the puzzled expression on the elder Amazon's face and settled down a little, "Yuzuyu like Shampoo in cat form. Give hugs and pet Shampoo a lot," the more she thought about the reasons for having spent time with Yuzuyu, the more miserable her expression became, "Shampoo lonely all time. Yuzuyu feel like only friend…"

Cologne had watched the girl go from hysterical laughter to something close to depression in a matter of seconds. She reflected on what the teenager's life (for that is what she was after all) was like…

Alone in a foreign country with and old woman as her only link to the world she once knew, pursuing a young man who probably would never agree to marry her, pursued by another young man she doesn't like, constantly using her martial arts talent to defend herself from attacks she thinks are unprovoked, and working long hours at a job that pays her nothing.

Could Cologne really blame the girl for wanting a few moments in the arms of another person? Even if the other person was a little girl and she was a cat? "Shampoo I am glad you have finally found a way to use your curse to make your life a little happier, but you can't continue to shirk your responsibilities like this. You should also consider what might happen to this little girl if she finds out…"

From the look on Shampoo's face Cologne knew this had already occurred, "What happened Shampoo?"

The girl smiled weakly, "Shampoo is now magic bathtub kitty."

Now it was Cologne's turn to laugh, "Serves you right, one day soon you will learn that anything a child takes to the bathroom ends up _in_ the bath!"

Both women laughed at this, it was the first time Shampoo could remember the two of them laughing together and it felt good for a change, "Shampoo will stop seeing Yuzuyu and go back chasing Ranma all time."

Cologne shook her head, "You may do whatever you wish in your spare time child, just do not lose focus on your goal. The sooner you secure Son-In-Law's proposal, the sooner we may return home." The old woman took hold of her walking stick and pulled herself up out of the chair. Turning back to Shampoo she added, "By the way I like that necklace, but from now on only wear it on your day off."

Shampoo fingered the nametag at her throat as her great-grandmother's words sank in. With a smile of gratitude on her face she said in Chinese, "_Thank you great-grandmother. I shall do that and I will not bring dishonor to our tribe_."

o o o

Suzuko stepped through the front door and took off her street shoes. The house seemed very quiet for this time of the evening. Padding into the kitchen in her stocking feet she found her mother at the stove, "Where is everyone?"

Looking up from the wok filled with frying tempura her mother said, "Well, your grandparents are in their room watching television, your father went to the store for something, Kippei and Satsuki are upstairs doing their homework and Yuzuyu is playing with Shampoo."

"Oh that's right, this is Monday isn't it?" Suzuko reached for one of the finished tempura that was cooling on a rack and had her hand swatted away by her mother, "Why is it that cat only shows up on Mondays?"

"Because the restaurant's closed on Mondays," said Satsuki with a straight face as he wandered into the kitchen.

"Restaurant? What are you talking about Satsuki?"

The boy opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of juice, "The one her owner works at of course."

"You know who Shampoo-chan's owner is?" Suzuko was never quite sure when her youngest bother was being incredibly intelligent or just exceptionally weird, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"You never asked me," he said while snatching a fried shrimp from the cooling rack and dashing for the door before his mother could swat him. "Besides," he said from the doorway, "all you had to do was ask the cat."

"What the…" Suzuko planted her hands on her hips and her face turned red, "Honestly mother, what is up with that boy?"

"Calm down Reiko," said her mother handing her a fried shrimp, "Here, dinner will be ready in twenty minutes."

Upstairs, in Kippei and Yuzuyu's room Shampoo lay curled in a ball on the bed while the teenager sat at his desk doing homework and the little girl sprawled on the floor with her crayons. With sleepy eyes she scanned the wall where Yuzuyu's latest creations were on display, in addition to several pictures of a white cat with black ears and paws there were now several of a strange girl with purple hair.

In the latest of these the girl was wearing a golden crown, indicating Yuzuyu' latest fantasy explanation for Shampoo's bath time transformation. According to the five year old Shampoo was an enchanted princess who would one day be saved from her curse by a handsome prince. Shampoo wondered if there were some way she could get the little girl to draw in a black haired boy wearing a red Chinese shirt, but a yawn cut the thought short.

Satsuki stuck his head in the door and said, "Dinner's almost ready, looks like tempura for the humans and tuna again for the cats." He glanced at what Yuzuyu was drawing as he turned to leave. He stopped short and came back into the room. "Yuzuyu-chan, what are you drawing?"

The little girl looked up from her latest creation, "The magic princess going to the temple!" she cried out excitedly.

From the desk came Kippei's voice, "They showed her pictures of some temples in school today."

Satsuki looked more closely at the drawing, "Why is her hair purple?"

The little girl glanced at the cat on the bed and then with a secretive smile said, "Yuzuyu likes purple hair."

"Is this someone you know Yuzuyu?" Satsuki was now looking over the pictures tacked up on the wall. He honed in on one showing the purple haired princess in a bathtub.

"Get real Satsuki, she just likes purple." Kippei said turning from his schoolwork, "Last week she liked orange trees and the week before that green sunsets. She is only five you know!"

"Excuse me big brother, I just thought her drawing looked familiar," Satsuki retreated to the door. There was no arguing with Kippei once he sensed a threat to Yuzuyu. Besides he could get a closer look at the drawings later, "You two should get washed up for dinner."

Kippei stretched and turned his chair around, "You heard him Yuzuyu, go wash your hands."

"Yes Kippei-onii-chan!" cried out the little girl as she sprang to her feet and dashed for the door.

Kippei got up and stepped to the bed, "You too princess," he reached down and scooped Shampoo off the bed. He had no idea why Yuzuyu thought the cat was an enchanted princess, but for his little cousin's sake he was willing to play along.

Shampoo was suddenly gripped by a huge yawn. Awakening to find herself in the familiar arms of a handsome teenage boy was not the worst way to come back to life. She settled more deeply into the crook of Kippei's arm as he began scratching her ears. She seemed to remember someone mentioning tuna for dinner, but that might have just been a dream.

She treasured these weekly visits with Yuzuyu and her family. The calm normality of this home was a comforting if somewhat stark contrast to her regular existence. Just the day before, her latest scheme to trap Ranma into marriage had failed miserably and already her great-grandmother was plotting another one. Yet here in Kippi's arms she was insulated from all that.

"_In this house I am safe,_" she thought,"_The people here like me and don't ask for the impossible in return. Yes, this is the only place I am truly safe!_" Her gaze settled on one of Yuzuyu's drawings of the Purple Haired Princess, "_So why are my battle senses tingling like something terrible is about to happen?_"

END – Part 1

All characters in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This work is copyright © 2005 by Juliet Carnell, it is not public domain and all rights are reserved. This work is not for publication. This work may not be reproduced, distributed or sold in any format or media. This work may not be included in any collection without the express written permission of the author. The reader may make one printed or electronic copy of this work for personal use.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Ranma ½' are copyright © 1987-1996 by Takahashi Rumiko and are used here without license.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Aishiteruze Baby' are copyright © 2002-2005 by Maki Youko and are used here without license.


	2. Chapter 2: You Asked for It

**Purr-fectly Normal Behavior – Part 2**  
by Juliet Carnell  
based on Ranma ½ by Takahashi Rumiko & Aishiteruze Baby by Maki Youko

"Satsuki," said his father in an agitated voice, "exactly where is this restaurant anyway? We've been walking a very long time. I think we must be in Furinkan already."

The entire Katakura family was walking together with Satsuki in the lead. His grandparents were at a weekly Mahjong game, so they had not joined in this trek across Nerima in search of ramen, but there was one addition. Kippei had talked his latest girlfriend Kokoro into coming along.

"It's not much further, I promise." Satsuki said with a grin. His older sister had been bugging him about this place ever since he let slip that Yuzuyu's cat friend Shampoo belonged to a waitress. So he had agreed to show her where it was and the rest of the family had insisted on coming along. If his suspicions were correct, this family outing would soon turn into something very interesting indeed.

Yuzuyu seemed to be enjoying the walk. Her eyes darting from one bright neon sign to another as they all strolled down the unfamiliar shopping street. When they passed one shop in particular the little girl shouted excitedly, "Ice cream! Yuzuyu wants ice cream!"

Kippei, who had been walking with Yuzuyu on one side and Kokoro on the other, looked down and said, "Not yet Yuzuyu, first we have dinner. Then maybe we can get ice cream. Okay?"

"No!" Yuzuyu said defiantly, "I want ice cream!"

"But don't you want to see where Shampoo-chan lives first?" Kippei said with a grin.

"Shampoo-chan! Yeah! Yuzuyu wants to see Shampoo-chan!"

Suzuko looked at her mother and smiled, "You've got to love the attention span of a five-year old."

Her mother laughed, "Yes, but it so rarely works to an adult's advantage."

Satsuki stopped and turned to face everyone, "Okay, this is it." He pointed to the sign over the doors of a small shop in the middle of the block.

"The Cat Café," Suzuko read the sign aloud.

"Do you think they named it for of Shampoo-chan?" asked her mother.

"Let's hope so," her father said as he scrutinized the menu taped to the window.

o o o

Shampoo was cleaning off a table with her back to the door when she heard the bell ring announcing the arrival of more customers. "Nihou, welcome to…" was as far as she got through her usual greeting before she turned to find Satsuki holding the door open for a thin girl with light brown hair. Coming through the door right behind the girl was Kippei, Suzuko and the whole Katakura family.

Using every speed technique in the Amazon arsenal, Shampoo disappeared from the dining room and plastered herself against the wall of the kitchen. Mousse looked up from his cooking and seeing a white blob topped with a purple blob rightly guessed who it was.

"Shampoo? Didn't a customer just come in? Cologne's going to throw a fit if you don't get them seated right away."

Shampoo just shook her head violently back and forth. What in the world was the whole family doing here? "Shampoo not do. Mousse go out, tell them Cat Café closed!"

"I can't do that! There'd be duck ramen on tomorrow's menu for sure if I told a customer to go away."

"Don't worry about it Mousse," Cologne said hopping in from the dinning room. She faced Shampoo from the doorway, "That's the whole family, isn't it great-granddaughter?"

Shampoo nodded her head slowly.

"What will the little girl do when she sees you?"

Shampoo shook her head, "Not know what Yuzuyu will do, but that only half problem great-grandmother." She told Cologne about all the pictures Yuzuyu had been drawing of her in both cat and human form. Then she told about Satsuki's comments the first night she had stayed at their house.

"You say the boy's intelligent? Then it is likely that he won't give up if you just hide and let Mousse serve them."

Mousse flinched visibly at this, he would do anything for his Shampoo, but waiting on a table full of people was risking everyone's life.

"Well great-granddaughter, I see no alternative but to let them find out about your curse. Goodness knows everyone in Furinkan knows about it by now." Cologne glanced out into the dinning room and looked at the little girl being settled into a booster seat by her blond haired cousin. "Of course the girl's family will not likely let you back into their home once they know the truth."

Shampoo hung her head, "Shampoo know. Is there no other way great-grandmother?"

"Not that I can think…" At that moment the front door bell rang again and Cologne watched Ranma walk in alone. "Son-in-law you have a remarkable sense of timing."

A minute later a dripping wet redhead was standing in the middle of the kitchen. Cologne put down the empty ice water pitcher and smiled at Shampoo. For once the young Amazon had caught on right away and was even now stripping out of her waitress outfit.

"What'd ya do that for ya old ghoul!"

"Son-in-law, I have a favor to ask you. I need you to fill in for Shampoo waiting on tables for the next hour."

Ranma's attention was totally on the now nearly naked Shampoo, "Sure… whatever… Hey, wait just a minute! I came here to get something to eat, not work my butt off for you."

"I am prepared to pay you for your time son-in-law." Cologne bit her lip. The things she sacrificed for her great-granddaughter!

"Yeah? How much?"

"How about ramen for one week." Cologne waited as Ranma matched her gaze in silence. She knew what he was waiting for, but she was loath to say the words. Finally she caved in for Shampoo's sake, "All you can eat."

"Deal! Mousse I'll start with three bowls of pork and keep 'em comin'"

"That can wait son-in-law, right now there are customers in the dining room."

"But great-grandmother," Shampoo said, "Airen not look like Shampoo. Satsuki-chan surely come looking for Shampoo…"

"Yes, he'll be looking for the girl in the pictures…"

"Yes, girl with purple hair…"

Cologne and Shampoo thought for a moment and then smiled at one another. Producing a hairbrush and a bottle of dye out of thin air, the Amazons descended on the hapless redhead.

In the dining room the Katakura's had settled in and were looking over the menu when an uproar from the kitchen caught their attention. They all looked up in time to see a buxom purple haired girl in a skimpy white Chinese dress come flying into the room backwards. After skidding to a stop, glaring back into the kitchen and muttering something under her breath she turned to the table, smiled sweetly and said, "Nee-how, what'd ya all want?"

o o o

Ranma worked her way around the table taking everyone's order. When she came to the little girl in the booster seat she squatted down, revealing just enough thigh through the slit in her dress to catch the interest of Mr. Katakura who in turn caught an elbow in the ribs from his wife.

The little girl had been watching Ranma closely the whole time. She seemed to have come to some sort of decision by the time Ranma asked her, "What da you want kiddo?"

"Yuzuyu want Shampoo-chan!" the little girl shouted excitedly.

Ranma looked over her shoulder and started to say, "Well, she's in the…" but a stray lock of purple hair fell across her face and she turned back to the little girl saying, "I'm Shampoo, pleased ta meet'cha."

Yuzuyu looked Ranma straight in the eye and said, "You're not Shampoo-chan."

Kippei interrupted to explain, "I'm sorry. She wants to see a cat named Shampoo. She's been playing with it for the last few weeks and we thought it might belong to you."

"My c-c-cat?" Ranma said nervously, glancing once more over her shoulder at the kitchen. Understanding suddenly arrived and her nervous expression changed into a wicked grin. "Yeah, we got a c-c-cat named Shampoo here. I'll go get her for ya."

"Thanks," Kippei said, "and please bring a small order of chicken ramen for Yuzuyu."

"Sure thing! That's three pork, two chicken, one seafood, a small chicken and…" Ranma's grin got even larger, "one c-c-cat."

Ranma returned to the kitchen and handed the order slip over to Mousse who proceeded to squint at the spoon in his other hand.

"Put yer glasses on duck boy!" Ranma shouted in glee, then she turned to Shampoo and Cologne, "They also had a special request."

"We don't do special orders son-in-law, you know that."

"Oh, but this is really special. The little girl out there wants a c-c-cat named Shampoo." The look of triumph on Ranma's face would have been frightening if it had lasted more than one second, because that is all the time it took for Shampoo's face to light up in delight.

The mostly unclothed Chinese girl grabbed a pitcher of ice water off the counter and prepared to up end it over herself, but Cologne stopped her. "You might want to put this on before you do that great-granddaughter." Cologne produced a black elastic band with a silver pendant dangling from it. She shared a knowing smile with her great-granddaughter before Shampoo slipped the nametag over her head and then doused herself with the water.

"Hey, wait a minute!" cried out Ranma in shock, "Not while I'm here!" Taking one look at the wet cat now standing not one meter in front of her, Ranma squealed in fright and dashed from the kitchen. She crossed the dining room in record time and ran straight to the men's room where Mr. Katakura was just finishing washing his hands.

Moments later a rather shocked Mr. Katakura returned to the dining room and sat down.

"What is it dear?" asked Mrs. Katakura.

"Oh nothing," he responded shakily, "but I'm starting to like this place."

Suddenly Yuzuyu cried out in delight, "Shampoo-chan!" Jumping out of her booster seat she ran across the room to where Shampoo was just sauntering out of the kitchen.

"Just as I expected," Satsuki mumbled.

Suzuko looked at her little brother suspiciously, "What was that Satsuki?"

"Nothing Nee-chan."

"Don't 'nothing' me," she growled as she pinched his cheek hard, "Out with it! What are you up to?"

Making sure that the rest of the family was busy watching Yuzuyu and the cat, Satsuki whispered, "Did you notice that the waitress disappeared before the cat arrived?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"My guess is that you won't see that waitress again as long is the cat is out here."

Suzuko looked at her brother and then at the cat in Yuzuyu's arms, "I don't get it Satsuki, what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying the girl and the cat can't be in the same place at the same time."

"Little brother," Suzuko said, "you are one seriously weird kid."

"Just wait and see if I'm wrong Nee-chan."

o o o

Cologne stuck her head into the kitchen, "Are those orders ready Mousse?"

"Almost," said the near-sighted cook, "I just need to find some bowls."

"Try the shelf right in front of yer face duck brain." Ranma said between gulps of ramen.

"Son-in-law, stop feeding your own face and take out these orders."

Ranma suddenly stopped eating and all the color drained from her face, "B-but, I can't go out there now. Shampoo's out there and she's a c-c-cat!"

Cologne laughed, "You're perfectly safe son-in-law, because at this very moment that frightening feline is safely in the arms of a five-year old girl!"

Yuzuyu had been resettled into her booster seat with Shampoo sitting on the bench between her and Kippei. All conversation at the table stopped as their waitress reappeared in the kitchen doorway juggling seven bowls in the air at once.

Ranma gritted her teeth and tried not to actually look at the table where she new Shampoo would be sitting. She glided across the room and began depositing bowls in front of the Katakura's at lightening speed. When she was done not a single drop had been spilled.

Then she spotted Shampoo sitting on the bench rubbing her head against the little girl's elbow. Even though Ranma was beginning to freak out, she couldn't help but wonder what Shampoo was up to. Who were these people anyway? Through clenched teeth she asked, "Can I get ya anythin' else?"

Mr. Katakura spoke for everyone saying, "This looks wonderful, could we have some more tea and juice?"

"Sure, comin' right up," Ranma's eyes were beginning to bulge as she turned and ran for the kitchen.

"The service here is really amazing, isn't it?" said Mr. Katakura.

"Really dear," Mrs. Katakura said, "don't embarrass yourself. Just because you like the waitress…"

Suzuko glanced at Satsuki, he looked about ready to explode. "Well little brother? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that the same waitress?"

"Yes," he said gloomily.

"And Shampoo-chan is still sitting here with Yuzuyu?"

"Yes!" he said bowing his head in defeat, "I just don't understand it. I was certain they had to be the same. Unless…" He looked up just as Ranma appeared in the kitchen doorway holding a pot of tea in one hand and a pitcher of apple juice in the other. A smile spread across Satsuki's face as an idea came to him.

As Ranma approached the table Shampoo suddenly jumped up into Yuzuyu's lap. Startled, Ranma tripped and the teapot went flying wildly through the air. She lunged for it just as a stream of steaming hot tea flowed from of the pot. Ranma regained her balance, snatched a tea cub from the table, caught the hot tea in it, then set the tea cup, the tea pot and the pitcher of juice lightly down on the table in front of the stunned customers.

"See what I mean," said Mr. Katakura, "it's very entertaining."

"Shut up and eat your ramen," said Mrs. Katakura as she eyed her husband distrustfully.

Still in female form, Ranma filled Yuzuyu's juice glass while glaring wide eyed at Shampoo sitting in the little girl's lap. This wasn't getting any easier, if anything seeing the cat with the cute little girl was even more distressing than usual.

Ranma was just turning to go when Satsuki cleared his throat, "Excuse me," he said, "are you the same waitress that was working here last month?"

Ranma turned and faced the young teenager. There was something unnerving about him, he had the same look on his face that Nabiki did when it was about to cost Ranma money. "Yeah, I'm Shampoo and Shampoo has worked here since the place opened."

"You look different than when I was in here before, are you sure you're the same person?"

Ranma pointed to the little gold nametag pinned to her dress then held up a lock of purple hair, "Of course I am, who else would be workin' in a dump like this?"

A whistling noise followed the single chopstick as it flew arrow straight from the kitchen to the back of Ranma's head.

"When I was here before, you had a Chinese accent."

Ranma was getting fed up with this, "Look, I've been goin' ta school. Ya got somethin' against a girl improvin' herself?"

"Satsuki!" said Mrs. Katakura sternly, "stop bothering this nice young woman and let her do her job." Turning to Ranma she said sweetly, "I'm sorry, you know what boys are like at 'that' age."

"Yeah," said Ranma eyeing the boy warily, "there's a place I know back in China that can take care of that. Enjoy yer meal folks."

o o o

The Katakura's seemed to be enjoying their meal and for once Shampoo felt a real sense of pride in her little restaurant. Curled up on the bench between Yuzuyu and Kippei, it was easy for her to forget what this place was like most of the time. Even Ranma seemed to be behaving himself for once. Yuzuyu snuck another piece of chicken out of her bowl and held in front of Shampoo, even though her stomach was full she grabbed it happily. She knew that every piece was a gift of love from the little girl.

Kippei on the other hand had hardly paid her any attention all evening. The skinny girl that had come in with them was apparently his new girlfriend. Shampoo tried not to feel jealous. She had long since given up on Yuzuyu's handsome cousin in order to continue her pursuit of Ranma, but to have Kippei so close and not receive any attention from him just rubbed her the wrong way.

She put a paw lightly against his thigh and then slipped her claws ever so gently into his flesh. His hand appeared and sought out her head. She released his leg as he began to massage the space between her ears. "_That'll do for now,_" she thought.

Watching from the kitchen, Ranma felt a pang of something other than jealousy. Six bowls of Mousse's ramen was even more than the Saotome eating machine could stand. She belched loudly and then turned to Cologne who was sitting on the counter.

"What's up with Shampoo anyway? She's been out there this whole time acting like the family c-c-cat. Is this some sort of scheme to make me jealous?"

Cologne shook her head, "This may be hard for you to believe son-in-law, but the entire world does not revolve around you and _your_ curse."

Ranma laughed, "Yeah, I wish!" then he returned to watching Shampoo.

Cologne smiled, "_This may work to my advantage after all,_" she thought. "Take them the bill son-in-law and don't forget to try and sell them dessert."

The Katakura's thanked Ranma, but declined dessert. Yuzuyu had her heart set on ice cream from the store down the street. As Mrs. Katakura settled the bill at the counter with Cologne, Yuzuyu said her goodbyes to Shampoo. The cat sat forlornly in the middle of the empty dining room until everyone had filed out of the front door, then she turned and walked dejectedly back to the kitchen.

Cologne was waiting for her with a kettle of hot water and a dry robe. After a liberal dose of hot water the young Amazon thanked her great-grandmother in Chinese and headed off towards the ladies room to dry her hair.

"Hey, save some of that water for me ya old hag," said Ranma indignantly. With Shampoo restored to human form, he was back to being the fearless jerk again.

Cologne smiled and said, "All right son-in-law, but unless you want to be a purple haired boy I suggest you wash that dye out with cold water first."

Ranma scratched the back of her head and laughed, "Oh yeah, forgot 'bout that."

As she turned to follow Shampoo into the ladies room, Mousse leapt at her, "Saotome! Don't you dare…"

His attack was brought to a screeching halt by a crack from Cologne's staff, "Don't interfere Mousse, unless you really want to spend the night wading in a cold tub of water?"

o o o

As Ranma stepped out of the front door of the Cat Café with his freshly washed black hair, he noticed the Katakura family standing on the sidewalk outside of the ice cream shop down the street. The dojo was in the opposite direction, but he paused for a minute just to watch them. They seemed like a perfectly normal family, so how they could have ever become involved with this loony bin of Amazons was beyond him.

Admittedly the young boy was a bit weird… And the older one with the skinny girlfriend had all those earrings… An involuntary shudder ran through Ranma as he contemplated a boy getting his ears pierced, not just once but many times. Still, could Shampoo really be attracted to a guy like that? Knowing her it was unlikely, as she had spent the whole evening without flying into a jealous rage even once.

The blond boy and his girlfriend were standing away from the rest of the family next to the roadway. The boy was leaning on a signpost talking to the girl who was balancing on the edge of the curb. Ranma took a closer look at the girl, "Too skinny," he said to himself, "two of her wouldn't make one Akane."

Satsuki sat on the bench outside the shop staring morosely at his melting ice cream. Suzuko thought he looked for all the world like a child that had just been told that Santa-san did not exist. "What's wrong little brother?" she asked him, "What were you trying to prove tonight anyway?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you Nee-chan. I'm beginning to not believe it myself."

"It's not like you to give up Satsuki. Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll figure it out. You were certainly right about this being the place where Shampoo-chan lives. And thanks to you I think Dad has found a ramen place he really likes." She glanced over to where her father stood patiently receiving a lecture from her mother on how not to act in front of small children.

Meanwhile Yuzuyu sat happily on the other end of the bench, her little face covered in smears of chocolate ice cream. As she sucked the last gooey drop from her cone she looked around for Kippei. He had wandered off somewhere with her new friend Onee-chan. She spotted them on the other side of the sidewalk and jumped down from the bench. Launching herself into a dead run, she shouted excitedly, "Kippei-onii-chan!"

Kippei looked over his shoulder just in time to see Yuzuyu's foot catch on a crack in the sidewalk. The five-year old pitched forward and went flying for towards the busy street. Kippei lunged to catch her, but in the process bumped into Kokoro. The girl lost her balance and fell backwards off the curb just as a large truck came barreling down on top of her. Just as Kippei caught Yuzuyu in his arms he felt a blast of wind whip past him.

The driver of the truck blasted his horn and slammed on the brakes, but the truck skid another ten meters down the road before coming to a bumpy stop. The driver leapt from the cab and ran back only to find the street where the girl had fallen completely empty.

On the sidewalk, the entire Katakura family stared at the same empty street, each of their faces frozen into a different mask of shock and horror. No one made a sound. Then Yuzuyu began screaming.

END – Part 2

All characters in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This work is copyright © 2006 by Juliet Carnell, it is not public domain and all rights are reserved. This work is not for publication. This work may not be reproduced, distributed or sold in any format or media. This work may not be included in any collection without the express written permission of the author. The reader may make one printed or electronic copy of this work for personal use.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Ranma ½' are copyright © 1987-1996 by Takahashi Rumiko and are used here without license.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Aishiteruze Baby' are copyright © 2002-2005 by Maki Youko and are used here without license.

12


	3. Chapter 3: Relationships

_My apologies, but this time around I needed to backtrack a little bit and set up a few side relationships. I promise that next time we'll get back to Shampoo, Yuzuyu and the main story._

**Purr-fectly Normal Behavior – Part 3**  
by Juliet Carnell  
based on Ranma ½ by Takahashi Rumiko & Aishiteruze Baby by Maki Youko

When all the violent movement finally stopped, Kokoro first allowed herself to breath again. When that seemed to go well, she next allowed herself to think and the first thought that came into her head was that Kippei is an idiot!

First he had pushed her off the curb as he lunged to catch Yuzuyu, she could forgive him for that, but then he had abandoned his little cousin in order to grab Kokoro instead and all so that he could have an excuse to get up her skirt. Even now she could feel his hand on her butt. She could only imagine what had happened to the poor child when she hit the pavement in Kokoro's place.

"Ba-ka!" she shouted as she pounded her fist into Kippei's chest. She hit him as hard as she could, but rather than doing the damage she expected the blow simply recoiled off rock solid muscle. That's when she became aware of the sounds of labored breathing and a smell of sweat that was distinctly different from Kippei's. Cautiously she opened her eyes and in place of the angular face and tousled blond hair of her new boyfriend she saw instead a round boyish face framed by thick black hair.

Ranma struggled to catch his breath. Even a great martial artist has his limits and traversing half a city block in under one second, grabbing the girl milliseconds before she hit the pavement, leaping three meters straight up into the air, bounding off the top of a moving truck, a traffic light and a neon sign before coming to a soft landing on the roof of the pachinko parlor across the street from the ice cream store had left Ranma gasping for air.

Kokoro stared up into the oddly familiar face of the young man that had apparently just saved her life. At first glance he wasn't much to look at. He was dressed in some kind of red silk shirt with Chinese style buttons and collar. The rest of his long black hair was pulled back into a braided pigtail. He didn't look especially strong, but resting in his arms she could intimately feel the toned muscles hidden beneath his baby smooth skin.

He looked like any other boy her age, but he radiated strength from every pore like some action movie hero. The spot where his hand touched her bare flesh grew warm as she began to sense the nuances of his power. She was beginning to wonder what his intentions were when he chose that moment to open his eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Kokoro had known the answer to that question only a moment ago, but suddenly she was aware that her heart was racing and she felt flushed all over. Either she was going into shock or this was something else entirely. She swallowed hard and nodded her head, "I… I think so."

"Good. I think yer boyfriend got the little girl. From the sounds she's makin' I'd say she's alive and well."

Kokoro focused on the distant screams of the five-year old. Why they seemed so far away and where she was right now was still a mystery. She glanced around and saw nothing familiar, this looked more like the roof of some office building than the busy shopping street where she had been standing.

Looking down she suddenly became conscious of the fact that she was still in the young man's arms, still held very closely to his chest and that his hand was still on her rear end, "Um… you can put me down if your getting tired."

The boy smiled, "That's okay, you don't weight nothin'. If you're feeling up to it, I can take you back to yer friends now."

Kokoro nodded, "Where are we anyway?"

The boy looked around, "I ain't exactly sure. I didn't really have time pick a spot. With my luck it's probably a sprinkler factory."

Kokoro looked at him with a puzzled expression. He was a funny mix of manly prowess and childish innocence. She couldn't decide if she wanted him for a little brother or a lover, but at some point she had definitely decide she wanted him.

"My name is Kokoro… Tokunaga Kokoro."

"Hold on tight Kokoro-san," the boy said as he walked to the edge of the roof, "Oh, my name's Saotome Ranma…" he glanced over the edge and then hopped lightly to the top of the short retaining wall, "…sorry 'bout this," then he sprang off into the empty air three stories above the busy street.

o o o

Kippei held onto Yuzuyu for dear life. No matter what he said or did, the terrified little girl would not stop screaming. He was certain now that she had seen what happened to Kokoro, but unfortunately she was still too hysterical to share it with him.

Just what happened to Kokoro was the topic of heated debate at that very moment. The truck driver had searched all around and under his vehicle, but had found no trace of her or even any signs of an impact. Someone had fetched a policeman who was now searching for her behind trees, trash bins and vending machines far down the street. None of the members of his family had seen anything because they had all been looking at Yuzuyu.

Everyone seemed to have his or her own theory about Kokoro's disappearance. Suzuko felt that she had avoided being hit by the truck, but had wandered off in shock. The owner of the ice cream store felt certain that such a skinny girl had been launched high into the air and fallen much further down the street than anyone was searching. When Satsuki suggested that she might have been knocked into another dimension, Kippei had wanted to knock him further down the street.

Kippei rubbed Yuzuyu's back and tried again to quiet her screams, "It's okay Yuzuyu. They're going to find Kokoro-chan soon. She's going to be okay," but his heart wasn't in it. He cursed his own stupidity and couldn't believe that he had actually pushed his girlfriend into the path of an oncoming truck. Now every minute that passed made it less likely that she would be found unharmed and it was entirely his fault.

He heard a murmuring run through the crowd that had gathered around them and then gasps of surprise, but it really didn't register on him until one woman cried out, "Look, up there!"

Kippei looked up in time to see someone leap off the roof of the building across the street. Rather than falling, the figure rebounded from the top of a lamppost to the roof of a car and then to the sidewalk directly in front of them. It was a boy wearing a red shirt and black trousers and in his arms was Kokoro!

Kippei watched in stunned silence as the boy set Kokoro down. Then to his bewilderment the owner of the ice cream store turned and walked away muttering, "I might have known it was _him_." Then Kippei noticed that everyone else in the crowd was beginning to walk away as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

Kokoro finally turned towards him and a smile broke across her face. Yuzuyu noticed who it was and her screaming stopped, but Kippei saw that her eyes were still filled with fear and apprehension.

"Kokoro… onee… chan?" Yuzuyu said uncertainly.

Kokoro nodded and began walking towards them, but this did not have the expected effect. Instead the five-year old began wailing again.

Kokoro rushed to kneel down in front of Yuzuyu, but the child pulled away and clung even more tightly to Kippei. "It's all right Yuzuyu," Kokoro said soothingly, "it's really me. I'm not hurt." She spread her arms wide to show the little girl that she was indeed all in one piece.

Yuzuyu's sobbing faded slowly as her eyes suddenly turned from fearful to curious, "Kokoro-onee-chan?"

Kokoro nodded and held out her arms. Yuzuyu gazed at her for a few more seconds and then with a big smile jumped into Kokoro's arms.

"Onee-chan didn't go away?"

"Nope, I'm still here thanks to Ranma-san over there…" while holding Yuzuyu in a big hug she turned to where Ranma had been standing, but he wasn't there. She turned to Kippei and asked, "What happened to Ranma?"

Kippei looked around for the dark haired boy, but he seemed to have melted away along with the rest of the crowd. "I don't know, he was standing there just a second ago."

"But…" Kokoro said with obvious distress, "I never even thanked him!"

o o o

Ranma walked along the riverbank deep in thought. What had him in such a fog was Shampoo's strange behavior this evening. For the entire time he had known her, Shampoo had never once done anything that wasn't directed solely at getting Ranma to marry her. Well… for a while she had wanted to kill Ranma's girl form, but that had ended when Shampoo learned about the curse.

And what had the old ghoul meant when she said that not everything revolved around him and his curse? Didn't everything bad around here happen to him? As far as he knew, he was the only boy in school that turned into a girl all the time, had three fiancées, a panda for a father and rivals that were always trying to kill him. Well… maybe he should set aside that last one for some guys attending tougher schools than Furinkan.

These thoughts had him in such a trance that he failed to notice he was walking past a lighted athletic field, failed to notice the football game in progress there, failed to notice the spectacular overhead kick shot that just missed the goal, and he certainly didn't notice the speeding soccer ball that smashed into the side of head sending him tumbling into the river.

When Ranma came back to his senses he was sitting in cold water up to his waist. Still disoriented from the blow to his head, he had a vivid déjà vu experience of that day months ago when he had sat in the Nyannichuan. As he did then he pulled open the front of his soaking wet shirt and looked down at the two luscious mounds that, unfortunately, were now his… or hers as the case may be.

She shook it off and looked around. Somehow she had managed to drag herself to shallow water on the far side of the river from the road home. She stood up, rung the water out of her shirt and cinched up her pants. She was just trying to decide whether it would be better to swim back across the river of walk down to the next bridge when she heard a commotion above her on the levee.

Climbing up the embankment to the jogging path, Ranma saw two older boys menacing a young girl with short red hair. Ranma hopped over the guardrail and moved in closer. She heard the boys trying to talk the girl into going to a karaoke place with them. The girl refused quite loudly and the boys closed in on her.

As Ranma watched the scene unfold, the girl reached into her pocket and pulled something out. There was a flash of light as the girl let a chrome bicycle chain uncoil from her hand. She told the boys to back off and then began swinging the chain around wildly. The boys just laughed at her and one tried to grab her wrist. The girl dodged away and swung the chain at the boys. She managed to miss them both by more than half a meter, but it almost hit her in the head as it snapped back around.

Ranma had seen enough. This girl had plenty of nerve, but she didn't know the first thing about using that chain in a real fight. Ranma just dropkicked the first boy over the guardrail. The second boy turned to face this new opponent, but made the fatal mistake of doing a double take when that opponent turned out to be another petite redhead. A roundhouse kick sent him flying after his buddy.

Ranma grabbed the girl's wrist and started dragging her down the road. "We need to get outta here before any more of those goons show up!"

The girl screamed and brandished the chain again, "Get off me! I'll hurt you!" She swung the chain wildly again, but Ranma easily caught it in her free hand and with a quick tug pulled it from the girl's grasp. She then tossed it in the air where it spun like a propeller above their heads. Ranma then thrust her arm into the whirling chain and it wrapped harmlessly around her wrist.

"You gotta be more careful with that thing or you're gonna to hurt yourself. Now come on and run!"

After running for about a kilometer, they stopped under a streetlight to catch their breath. Ranma scanned the path behind them for pursuers, while the girl got her first good look at who had saved her.

"Hey, you're a girl!"

Ranma scratched the back of her head and said in a pained voice, "Yeah, I guess so."

The girl chuckled, "And you've got red hair."

"So do you," Ranma looked back and sized her up. She looked like a middle schooler and was wearing an unfamiliar green uniform, red sneakers and a red and white knit sweatband on her right wrist. She was about the same height as Ranma, but her red hair was cut very short. It was a strange sensation, like looking at yourself in a mirror and having someone else look back. "I'm Ranma by the way."

"I'm Miki, you really decked those guys. Do you know martial arts or something?"

"Well… or somethin'…" Ranma proceeded to tell her a little about the Art and then showed her how to use the bicycle chain without hurting herself, "The key is not to break your wrist until the chain reaches the target," she demonstrated by swinging the chain at the lamppost. It swung in a loose arc until it was almost to the aluminum pole then Ranma twisted her wrist and the chain snapped straight out like a sword. It just barely touched the pole making a tiny pinging noise.

"The most important thing for you to remember is to follow through," she added as the chain swung around and ended up back in her hand, "You gotta follow through every time whether you hit somethin' or not."

"I'll remember that for sure," Miki said with a grin.

"Oh, and if yer havin' trouble holding on to it, attach it to some keys or maybe your wallet."

"Great idea! Thanks Ranma-san!"

Ranma held out her hand and dropped the bunched up chain into Miki's open palm. As she did so, she noticed a line of nasty looking burn marks along Miki's forearm. "Wow, you must really live in a tough neighborhood. How'd you get those scars?"

Miki quickly pulled her wristband up to cover most the scars, "I don't want to talk about that, okay?"

"Sure, no problem," Ranma wondered if it had been some sort of gang initiation, "Is it okay to ask where yer from? I've never seen a uniform like that."

"Oh, you wouldn't have, it's a private school and I don't live around here," Miki said, "I came here to visit my cousin, but nobody was home. I was heading back to the train station when those guys stopped me."

Ranma looked back in the direction that they had come from, "Well the closest station is back that way…" she looked at Miki and raised an eyebrow, but the other redhead shook her head no. "Me neither. There's another station not far away on the other side of the river. I gotta go that way anyway, so if want I can walk you there."

"I'd like that Ranma-san. You know, you're okay."

They walked on down the path until they came to the next bridge and then crossed over. Walking down the same road as before, Ranma eyed the athletic field warily as they passed, but this time no errant balls went out of their way to hit her, probably because she was already a girl.

She told Miki more about martial arts and about her travels in Japan and China. Miki seemed to soak it all up, but whenever Ranma would ask her anything about herself, she would either clam up or change the subject. From what little she did say Ranma got the feeling that her tough attitude was all talk. She seemed new to the role and not at all comfortable with it. Again Ranma wondered if she had been coerced into joining a gang. Some schools were infamous for their tough girl-gangs and Miki may have fallen prey to one of them.

They were getting near the station when Ranma started telling her about an incident at school involving Akane, Shampoo and Ukyou. She avoided mentioning anything about the engagements of course.

"You sure have a lot of friends at school," Miki said in a casual tone, but Ranma could tell it was anything but a casual remark.

"Well, not so many." Ranma started counting them up in her head and was suddenly amazed by the number of people she could actually count as friends, "Maybe just a couple of others."

"I don't have any friends at school," Miki said. It was the first thing she had said all evening without the fake bravado.

"Really, what about the girls you hang out with?" it was an offhand way of asking if she was in a gang, but it might just work.

"I don't hang out with anybody," she was beginning to sound annoyed, "Nobody at my school will even talk to me. Okay?"

Ranma just nodded, not wanting to fan the flames that had just sprung up between them. As they walked on in silence she realized that Miki had finally told her something about herself. She put that together with all the other little clues and thought, "_Miki's a loner, like I used to be._"

She took another close look at the tough girl wannabe. The aggressive and tenacious attitude reminded her of Akane, but without the anger and hostility. It might just be the sailor suit uniform with the really short skirt and knee socks, but Miki was cuter then Akane too. Ranma found herself wondering what Miki might look like in other kinds of clothes or even no clothes at all.

Then suddenly they were outside the station and Miki turned to face Ranma. "Thanks for walking with me all the way. I really enjoyed hearing all about your martial arts," She held up a yellow cell phone, "Would you like to trade numbers?"

Looking somewhat embarrassed Ranma said, "Well, I don't have a cell phone. Pop can't even afford a separate phone for us at the dojo, but you can leave a message for me at the Tendo School of Indiscriminant Grappling. It's in the phone book."

Miki smiled, "I think I can remember that. Well, I better get going."

"Yeah, I'll bet your parents are getting worried about you."

"I'll bet they're not," Miki sneered.

Ranma really didn't want to let her go this way. He wanted to know that he would be able see her again, but most of all he really wanted her to know that he was actually a boy. Just inside the station he spotted a coffee kiosk and got an idea, "Miki, would you wait for me inside the station for a couple of minutes? There's somethin' I'd really like to show you."

Miki glanced at the time display on her cell phone, "Okay, but I really do have to be going soon."

"This'll only take a few seconds!"

Ranma dashed inside the station and begged the girl at the coffee stand to give her a cup of hot water. Then racing into the toilet she locked herself in a stall and poured the scalding water over her head. The now very male Ranma stopped for just a few seconds at the mirrors to make sure he didn't look like a drowned rat before racing out into the station again.

Miki was nowhere in sight and then he heard the sound of a train accelerating away on the tracks overhead. Even though he knew she was gone he looked around for her anyway. He cursed himself for not getting her phone number, because he just knew she would never call the dojo. Disappointed and tired after a long evening, Ranma headed out of the station. He turned towards home and was immediately doused by a passing street cleaning truck.

o o o

As the train passed through Nerima on its way downtown, Miki sat and thought about the amazing girl she had met tonight. Ranma-san was everything Miki wanted to be, strong, self-reliant and competent. She talked tough and could back it up with real fighting ability. She even sounded like a boy! If Miki could pull all that off as well as Ranma did, no one at school would ever bother her again.

She fingered the scars on her arm and thought back to those first few weeks after her class had ostracized her. She had wondered what it would be like to hurt someone. Now she wondered what it must feel like to fly through the air and smash in someone's face in with your feet. If she could do that, even her homeroom teacher would have to respect her.

But Ranma had been studying martial arts her entire life. She had mentioned dozens of different techniques that she had mastered and she was still learning more. It was hopeless for Miki to even begin such training now. She would be forced out of school long before it would do her any good.

The train was pulling into her stop so Miki got up and waited for the doors to open. Out on the platform a tall broad shouldered boy stood waiting to get on. The doors opened and Miki stepped out just as the boy tried to step in right in front of her. They bumped into one another and the collision knocked Miki off her feet. It had been like walking into a brick wall!

Before she could hit the floor of the train though, the boy had gathered her up in his arms, rushed her out to the platform and set her gently down on the nearest bench. Her head swam at the speed at which all this happened.

"I'm really sorry," the boy stammered, "I guess I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you all right? I didn't hurt you did I?"

Miki held up her hand to stop him from talking, "I'm okay, but you better hurry because the train is going to leave any second now." She waved him towards the train, but he didn't budge. Looking from side to side he seemed to be unsure which way to go to get to the train that was right behind him.

"Oh, yeah… thank you," he finally turned and looked at the open train doors, "If you're sure that you're all right, I really do need to go. I have really have to get to Furinkan tonight."

"Furinkan? That train just came from Furinkan, you need to catch the train on the other platform."

"Really? Are you sure? I could have sworn this was the right platform."

Miki stood up, "Well, it's not. Look, there's a walkway to the other platform half way down that staircase over there."

"Really?" The boy smiled, "Thank you very much!"

He turned and started heading for the staircase, but then suddenly turned ninety degrees and headed straight into the train again. Miki raced over and grabbed his arm just before he stepped through the doors.

"Hold on there cowboy! Didn't I just finish telling you that was the wrong train?"

"Train? I thought this was the way to the staircase." Just then the chimes sounded and the train doors closed. As the cars accelerated away, the boy added, "Or not."

Miki chuckled, "You don't have a very good sense of direction, do you?"

The boy scratched at the back of his head and said, "My friends keep telling the same thing."

"Why don't I just show you the way to the other platform?"

"Would you mind?"

As she led him to the other side of the station, Miki checked the guy out. He was dressed in an orange pullover tunic and black pants. He was carrying a retro styled backpack to which a traditional Japanese umbrella was tied. His unkempt black hair was held at bay with a yellow and brown spotted bandana. Under thick bushy bangs, his brow seemed to be frozen into furrows as if he were perpetually mad at someone.

When they got to the other platform, she positioned him just behind the yellow line right where the center doors of the center car would stop. "Now, just don't move from this spot until the train arrives, then just step inside and get off at the fifth stop. Just listen to the announcements and you can't go wrong. Okay?"

"I don't know how to properly thank you… I don't even know your name."

"I'm Sakashita Miki."

"And I am Hibiki Ryoga, at your service Sakashita-san." Ryoga bowed to Miki who giggled at all the formality.

"Are you going to be okay if I leave you here alone Hibiki-san?"

"Get on the train and off again at the fifth stop, it's simple!" Ryoga smiled and Miki nearly broke up.

"Okay then," she laughed, "I've gotta go now. Bye."

"Good bye Sakashita-san and thank you again."

Miki walked to the top of the stairs. She turned for one last look at the strange boy and… he was gone! She scanned up and down the platform and just caught sight of him heading towards the emergency exit at the far end.

She stood with him and made sure he didn't move again for the next ten minutes until the train arrived, then she pushed him straight into the car and waited until the doors closed. She held up her hand and one by one closed all five fingers, "The fifth stop, okay?" she shouted.

He nodded and gave her the thumbs up sign. He was on his own now, but she still waited until the train was completely out of the station before she turned to leave.

"Ten to one he gets off at the wrong station," she said to herself, and then she began laughing. It felt good to laugh like that. Ryoga was genuinely funny, like the comic relief in a good manga adventure. And he was cute too!

o o o

Ryoga stood at the door just as the smart little girl had told him to. A man standing nearby heard him mumbling to himself and moved away quickly.

"That was three, the next one's four. That was three, the next one's four…"

He just had to see Akane tonight. How many weeks ago had he promised to take her out? His backpack was filled with souvenirs from every corner of Japan, but he knew that wouldn't make up for missing their date.

"That was three, the next one's four…"

He also had a score to settle with Ranma. After all he had been the one to send Ryoga out the convenience store to get soy sauce that night. Well he had a surprise for Ranma in his back pack as well, a collection of soy sauces from the finest regions in all Japan!

"That was three, the next one's four…"

A man and woman walked past Ryoga on their way to the front car, "…and the trip was supposed to be four days and five nights in Hawaii, but…"

"That was four, the next one's five…"

It wasn't until the train doors closed behind him that Ryoga heard the announcement, "Furinkan Station next! The next stop will be Furinkan Station," and then the train began pulling away.

He turned dejectedly and looked for an exit sign, as if it made any difference, but he couldn't let a little mistake like this get him down. The announcement had said that Furinkan was the next stop, so he couldn't be more than a few kilometers from his goal. Resolutely he marched down the stairs and out the main exit walking right past the huge two-meter tall street map with the big blue bulls eye and the words "You Are Here" written in both English and Japanese.

He walked to the curb and noticed that the streets had been recently washed and there were still puddles of water everywhere. He'd have to be careful not to let any passing cars splash him. He looked around at his options, there was a main road leading both left and right and a side street running straight ahead.

If only Ryoga had known that the road to the right led directly to the main shopping district of Furinkan or that if he walked just 1.86 kilometers straight ahead he would pass through the back gate of the Tendo School of Indiscriminant Grappling, through the dojo, down the connecting covered walkway, into the kitchen past Kasumi cleaning up after dinner, through the main room where Souun and Genma were playing Shoji while Nabiki watched the nightly business report on TV and finally come to the garden where his love Akane was performing a kata, he might not have chosen to turn left.

He walked along the road for a while and then for no particular reason turned down a residential side street. He passed a modern looking pre-school and soon came to a convenience store. He was trying to decide if he should go inside and get something to eat when a young couple with a small child walked out of the store.

This was a little strange because the child looked to be maybe five or six and the couple really didn't look much older than he did. The boy with the blond hair gave the cute girl a hug, but they didn't kiss. Then the boy and the little girl walked off in one direction while the girl went off in another.

This was a little confusing, but Ryoga lived with confusion. Confusion was an old friend and he had a pact with it. Confusion didn't bother him and in return he got confused as often as possible.

He gave up on the convenience store and decided to head off down a new path. So of course he turned around and followed the girl down the same street he had just arrived on. He saw yet another pre-school, "_How many of those things do you need in the same neighborhood?_" and then came to an intersection with a road that looked familiar. Standing on the corner, waiting to cross with the light was the same girl he had just seen in front of the store.

As he also waited for the light he took a closer look her. He was sure now that this girl was too young to have a child that old. She was maybe sixteen or seventeen and had long light brown hair. Her clothes were nice, but the skirt she was wear was a little short. Not that he was complaining about it, she had really nice legs. She was thin like a model and he was wondering if that was what she did for a living when she turned and confronted him.

"What is it? Did you follow me?"

"Um… no, I'm just going the same way and I… um… was wondering…"

"What? What were you wondering?"

He didn't want to say he had been wondering if she were old enough to have a five-year old child or if she was an underwear model, so he said the only other thing on his mind, "You wouldn't be going to Furinkan by any chance?"

The girl blinked, "Oh," her stern looked softened a little, "I'm sorry, I thought maybe… oh, never mind. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to Furinkan. I'm headed in the other direction, but it's not far from here. Just straight down this road. You can get there in five minutes if you take the train. The station's only a block that way or you can walk there in about twenty minutes. Just stay on this road and you can't miss it."

"Really?" Ryoga stared down the street in amazement, "Thank you so much. I'm sorry if I frightened you."

"That's okay," she said, "I'm just a little jumpy. Things have been a little more lively than I'm used to tonight." The light changed and the walk sign turned green, "Oh, I have to go. Good luck finding Furinkan… uh…"

"Ryoga, my name's Ryoga."

"I'm Kokoro, it was nice meeting you."

Ryoga watched her as she walked off across the intersection and down the street on the other side, "Kokoro," he whispered, "goodbye my guardian angel."

He turned and faced down the street in the opposite direction from the one Kokoro had indicated. Some forty miles ahead lay the docks of Yokahama and certain doom, but he looked one more time down the street where his angel had long since disappeared into the distance and with a heavy sigh he turned around and miraculously wound up in downtown Furinkan some twenty minutes later.

END – Part 3

All characters in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This work is copyright © 2006 by Juliet Carnell, it is not public domain and all rights are reserved. This work is not for publication. This work may not be reproduced, distributed or sold in any format or media. This work may not be included in any collection without the express written permission of the author. The reader may make one printed or electronic copy of this work for personal use.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Ranma ½' are copyright © 1987-1996 by Takahashi Rumiko and are used here without license.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Aishiteruze Baby' are copyright © 2002-2005 by Maki Youko and are used here without license.


	4. Chapter 4: Catnap

_Good news! Viz Media has announced that they will begin releasing 'Aishiteruze Baby' in the USA under their ShojoBeat label starting on April 4th! I'm really looking forward to this myself as I have only seen the anime._

_I've corrected a boatload of errors in this chapter. You have my apologies for not proof reading it properly the first time._

**Purr-fectly Normal Behavior – Part 4  
**by Juliet Carnell  
based on Ranma ½ by Takahashi Rumiko & Aishiteruze Baby by Maki Youko

Shampoo checked her list again just to be sure that she had actually completed all of the things Cologne had asked her to do. It was Monday and Shampoo had willingly given up her morning off to repay her great-grandmother for helping her to keep her secret from the Katakura's. The list was long, but Shampoo was full of energy today and she was done before she knew it. She found a clock in a store window and realized that it was way too early to meet Yuzuyu at the pre-school.

She stopped for lunch and then tried window-shopping, but without any money to spend it wasn't much fun. She could go to the high school and see her Airen, but those visits usually turned into some strange competition or a fight and that would use up the rest of her day. What she really wanted to do was go see Yuzuyu, but if she went now the schoolyard would still be full of other children.

She thought about that as she walked along in the general direction of the pre-school. Why did she always wait until the other children had gone before changing into a cat and meeting her little friend? There wasn't anything to be afraid of. They were only children after all. In fact, more children might mean more hugs! Wearing a broad smile of anticipation she picked up her pace.

o o o

Yuzuyu was playing in the sandbox with her friend Ken-chan. As usual Yuzuyu was building a mountain of sand from the rivers that Ken-chan was excavating. Yuzuyu kept a wary eye on Marika-chan, the dark haired little girl didn't like it when Ken-chan paid too much attention to Yuzuyu.

Shampoo strolled through the front gate and froze. She hadn't really expected quite _this_ many children. She considered turning around and waiting in a tree somewhere until some of them went home, but she thought about it too long.

"Shampoo-chan!" Yuzuyu screamed from across the playground.

Shampoo tried to swallow, but her mouth had gone dry. As a martial artist she was used to being stared at by crowds of people while she fought with Akane or Ranma, but something about the dozens of cute little faces in front of her sent shivers down her long supple spine. Gathering up all of her resolve, she straightened her shoulders, stuck her tail in the air and sauntered through the packs of gawking children.

When she reached the sandbox, Yuzuyu gathered her up into her arms in a big hug, "Shampoo-chan came early!" the little girl shouted with glee.

"Yuzuyu-chan?" asked Ken-chan with a puzzled look on his little face, "Is that your cat?"

Yuzuyu turned and lugged the heavy cat over to where her friend was standing. "Shampoo-chan is restaurant cat, but also Yuzuyu's friend."

Yuzuyu set Shampoo down in front of the boy and he tentatively reached a hand out to her. Shampoo stretched her head up to meet the little boy's hand and he giggled, "Why does Yuzuyu-chan call her Shampoo?"

"Because that's her name," Yuzuyu crouched down and pointed to the little silver nametag around the cat's neck. "It says so right here."

Several other children had wandered over to the sandbox to look at the cat, "Such a pretty kitty!" "Can I pet it?" "Is it a girl or a boy?"

Yuzuyu beamed as she introduced Shampoo to her classmates and answered all their questions. Everyone wanted to pet Yuzuyu's cat friend. Shampoo had never been touched by this many people in her whole lifetime. The experience was both frightening and exhilarating.

"What's so special about an old cat?"

The crowd of children parted to reveal a little girl with black pig-tails and a ruffled collar. Yuzuyu stood up and faced the other girl, a look of determination crossed her young face. Shampoo had a moment of déjà vu and for a second it looked just like Tendo Akane facing off with Kuno Kodachi!

"Shampoo is a magic princess, Marika-chan!" Yuzuyu declared.

"Shampoo?" sneered Marika, "That's a silly name. There's nothing magic about that old cat."

Shampoo instantly disliked this girl. Not only was she obviously Yuzuyu's rival, but that was twice now that she had called Shampoo old! She dropped her tail and flexed her hind legs as best she could, this usually didn't work when she was in cat form, but to put this snooty little girl in her place it was worth a try. "Nyow!" she yowled and then was gone.

All the children gasped as the cat simply disappeared. Everyone began looking around, but there weren't even paw prints in the sand to show where she might have run off. A look of shock grew on Marika's face and seeing it Yuzuyu smiled. She crossed her arms triumphantly and said, "See Marika-chan, Shampoo-chan _is_ magic!"

"B-but," stammered Marika, "where did it go?"

From directly behind Marika a loud "Nyow!" erupted and the little girl went diving into the sandbox. Sitting there as if nothing unusual had just happened was Shampoo calmly cleaning her paw with her tongue. Only Shampoo knew how much her paw hurt from trying to use a ki move without fingers to focus the energy with.

Marika sat up in the sandbox and stared wide-eyed as Yuzuyu gathered Shampoo up in her arms and walked off with the rest of the class in tow. Tears began to well up in the spoiled little girl's eyes. With her sleeve she wiped the sandy tears from her face and whispered, "Marika wants it!"

o o o

Shampoo sat on the front step of the pre-school and watched patiently as mothers began arriving to pick up their children. Yuzuyu was inside the school somewhere, but she had not been able to convince the teachers to let her bring the cat in with her. So Shampoo just waited for her out here in the shade. As the children left one-by-one, most stopped to pet the magical princess kitty and Shampoo was becoming intoxicated from all the attention. She had forgotten what it was like to have a village full of friends, where lots of people knew you and treated you kindly.

There was a commotion from inside and Shampoo looked in to see Marika squaring off against a woman with short black hair, trendy glasses and too much make-up. She was wearing a pastel colored business suit and had a designer handbag slung over one shoulder. "_That must be Marika's mother,_" Shampoo thought, "_poor woman…_"

"I want Princess Jasmine!" Marika screamed at the top of her lungs while stamping her feet.

"But Marika," pleaded her mother, "we already have Mr. Jinku, we don't need…"

"I WANT JASMINE!"

At that moment, the boy Shampoo remembered as Ken-chan stopped to pet her and she was distracted from the rest of the brat's tantrum. Ken-chan's mother also petted Shampoo and she found that she no longer minded that so much. There really wasn't anything more to fear from an adult's hand than from a little child's after all. So when another adult sized hand came at her she just closed her eyes and stretched her neck out obligingly.

Shampoo was completely unprepared for what happened. Marika's mother grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and lifted her off the step. With the cat in one hand and a smiling little girl in the other she marched quickly towards the gate.

Shampoo tried desperately to free herself, but she could barely move. This was simply something you couldn't train for as a human, so none of her martial arts skill was of any use. In situations like this she had often turned to that part of her brain that was now cat and let it work on instinct alone, but when she did that all her limbs just went limp and a warm feeling of security flooded through her.

She tried to calm herself, at some point the woman was going to have to set her down and then Shampoo would be back in control. She could get away and be back with Yuzuyu in no time. All she needed was an opening and she had as long it would take them to walk to Marika's house for one to present itself.

But Marika and her mother didn't walk home, instead the woman stepped up to an SUV parked just outside the gate. She took some keys from her purse, pointed them at the car and the rear hatch popped open. As the hatch lifted slowly into the air it revealed two large animal carriers sitting on the rear deck.

"_What the…_" Shampoo yowled in protest and flailed her legs wildly about, but it was no use. Marika's mother had her in the mysterious neck grip and try as she might Shampoo could not get a foothold on anything. She was quickly stuffed into one of the cages and the wire door was slammed shut behind her.

She spun around to find Marika's grinning face staring in at her, "We're going home Princess Jasmine. Then we can play together forever."

o o o

Cologne looked at the clock again, it was nearly ten o'clock and Mousse and Shampoo were now long over due. Since discovering Shampoo's secret meetings with Yuzuyu, she had been sending Mousse with a thermos of hot water to fetch her each Monday night. She knew that the little girl's bedtime was eight, so they should have been back before nine.

She wasn't going to worry. Considering the life the two young martial artists led in Nerima, almost anything could have happened to delay them. Mousse may not have made it to the Katakura house in time to meet Shampoo and she would have a long walk back in cat form. Or they could have met up with Ranma or one of the other fiancés along the way. No, she wasn't going to start worrying until…

The front door bell rang as Mousse entered the restaurant alone. The look on his face told Cologne everything she needed to know, Shampoo was missing! "Mousse, what happened? Where is Shampoo?"

"I don't know," Mousse sounded on the verge of crying. He didn't know what was worse, not finding Shampoo or reporting it to Cologne, "I found her clothes and a water bottle in the usual place," he removed a plastic convenience store bag full of neatly folded clothing and a half empty water bottle from the folds of his robe, "but when I went to the little girl's house Shampoo did not come out at the customary time. I waited and waited, but no one ever came to the front door to let her out. I snuck into the yard and looked inside…"

Mousse seemed reluctant to finish that sentence so Cologne pressed him, "Please tell me that you had the good sense to put on your glasses?"

"Give me a little credit, elder," Mousse looked crestfallen, "of course I put them on and in the living room I saw the little girl sitting in front of a TV set hugging a stuffed bear and a rabbit. She was…" he hung his head, "crying."

Cologne actually took a step back as her heart skipped a beat. A thousand possibilities ran through her mind and the worst was number one on the list. There were five major road crossings between the Nekohatten and the Katakura residence and they had all seen their share of road kill…

She shook her ancient head to clear it of such thoughts. Her great-granddaughter was faster than any vehicle, even in cat form. She also knew the little girl would not let Shampoo get too far away from her and the girl was all right, so the chances of Shampoo being hit by a car were very small.

It was more likely that Shampoo had simply not shown up for her meeting with Yuzuyu and the child was heartbroken over it, but that presented a greater mystery. What could have happened to Shampoo in the short distance between the clump of bushes where she changed into cat form and the schoolyard right across the street?

"Mousse, are you certain that Shampoo was nowhere in the house? What about the rest of the little girl's family?"

"The grandparents were in a back room, watching television. The rest were gathered around the kitchen table having what looked like a serious discussion. The only one missing was the younger son. He may have been upstairs or out of the house, I couldn't tell because most of the upstairs curtains were drawn."

Cologne sighed heavily, "There are just too many possibilities and we have too little information," she looked at Mousse's despondent face and conjured up a smile, "Don't lose heart Mousse, she could still come wandering in here at any minute with some silly explanation for where she's been. We'll wait until morning and then begin searching the area around the school. If that turns up nothing then we'll have to talk to the little girl."

"I want…" Mousse's voice caught in his throat, "I just feel like there should be something I can do."

"You can," Cologne said, "You can make us some strong tea. It's going to be a long night."

o o o

Cologne and Mousse were out at dawn the next morning searching the neighborhood surrounding the pre-school. When nothing turned up, Cologne sent Mousse to check with the girls at the Tendo dojo while she went to shadow the Katakura house. Yuzuyu and the blond boy left for school as usual followed by the father, the younger brother and older sister, but there was no sign of Shampoo.

Mousse was waiting for her across the street from the pre-school. The Tendo's had not seen Shampoo for days as either a girl or a cat. He also noted angrily that Ranma had laughed at his concern, almost provoking a fight, "He seemed a bit disappointed that I turned and left."

"You can have your revenge against son-in-law _after_ we find Shampoo," Cologne said. "There's nothing left to do but ask the little girl. We will wait for the children to be let out into the playground after lunch and then you will make a diversion at the entrance while I slip in."

"What sort of diversion did you have in mind?"

"Try something that won't get you arrested."

o o o

Shortly after noon a flock of laughing children raced into the playground followed slowly, Cologne noted, by one unhappy looking little brown haired girl. From her perch in a tree overlooking the sandbox, she signaled to Mousse at the front gate and he approached the group of teachers standing watch.

Taking off his glasses, Mousse moved toward a large blob he assumed was the group of teachers, "Good day. Might I ask a question?" He bowed and then heard giggling from somewhere to his left. Turning from the clump of bushes he was bowing to, he repeated his greeting to a swing set which was followed by more amused giggling.

"Bless that boy," Cologne chuckled to herself. She dropped lightly from her hiding place in the tree and approached Yuzuyu who was sitting in the sandbox dejectedly scooping sand into a big pile, "Hello Yuzuyu-chan."

At first Yuzuyu's face was wide-eyed with shock, but her expression softened as Cologne smiled and said, "Do you remember me from the restaurant, Yuzuyu? I'm a good friend of Shampoo-chan."

The little girl nodded as recognition dawned on her, "Old Chinese lady… Yuzuyu remember."

"You may call me great-grandmother. That is what Shampoo calls me when she is the magic princess."

Yuzuyu's eyes lit up, "Get-grandmother know Shampoo-chan is magic?"

Cologne nodded, "Yes, I have seen her change many times. That is "gr-eat" grandmother, can you say that for me Yuzuyu-chan?"

"Grrreat-grandmother," Yuzuyu said with some effort, but she smiled broadly when Cologne praised her for getting it right.

"Do you know where Shampoo-chan is? We are very worried about her because she did not come home last night."

Yuzuyu's expression turned dark and she nodded her head slowly, "Yesterday Marika-chan take Shampoo-chan home." She turned and pointed to a dark haired girl with pig-tails playing with two other girls on the far side of the playground.

Cologne studied the little girl, but nothing out of the ordinary struck her senses. "Do you know where Marika-chan lives?" It was a long shot, but she asked anyway. When Yuzuyu nodded her head, Cologne breathed a sigh of relief, "Yuzuyu, would you like to go with me to rescue Shampoo-chan?"

o o o

Mousse was being led arm-in-arm towards the front gate by two of the teachers, while the other two stood and watched trying not to giggle. The handsome young man with the long black hair was obviously quite blind, but he was so charming that it was hard not to be attracted to him.

The teacher with the black pigtails turned to say something and was startled to find a tremendously old woman standing right behind them with a tall walking stick in one hand and one of her students in the other. She tugged on the other teacher's sleeve and they both turned to face the stranger.

"Excuse me dears," Cologne said in her best old granny voice, "I'm here to take Yuzuyu-chan to her doctor appointment."

"Uh…" the teacher's looked at one another skeptically, "and you are…"

Cologne smiled sweetly, "I'm sorry, but I haven't been here before. Kippei-chan is in school right now and my granddaughter is out of town, so they asked me to run this errand for them today. Why don't you ask Yuzuyu-chan who I am?"

The teacher with the pigtails squatted in front of the little girl and asked, "Yuzuyu-chan, who is this woman?"

Yuzuyu grinned and proudly said "Great-grandmother!"

"We should only be gone for an hour or so," Cologne smiled confidently.

The teachers looked at one another and shrugged, "Keppei-san did mention his grandparents once, so I guess it's okay."

They met up with Mousse at the end of the block in front of the convenience store. Cologne was pleased to see that he had put his glasses back on already, "Yuzuyu-chan, this is Mousse. He is also a friend of Shampoo-chan's."

Mousse bowed to the little girl, "It is an honor to meet one of Shampoo's friends."

Yuzuyu giggled and said, "Hello Moose-san!"

"Yuzuyu knows where Shampoo is," Cologne said to Mousse, "One of her classmates decided they wanted a house cat yesterday."

Mousse shook his head, "I don't understand, how hard can it be to defeat a five-year old, even as a cat? Why didn't she just get away?"

"Because," Cologne replied with exasperation in her voice, "Shampoo is learning that martial arts is not the answer to all of life's problems. Something a certain hidden weapons master would do well to study. Now, wait here and watch the child while I go into the store."

Cologne returned a few minutes later carrying a white plastic bag, she reached into it and pulled out a small box of juice and handed it to Mousse.

"I'm not thirsty," he said while rotating the box in his hand.

"It's not for you idiot," Cologne said tersely, "Put in the straw and give it to Yuzuyu-chan."

Mousse did as he was told and handed the box to the little girl.

"Thank you Moose-san!" Yuzuyu cried out in delight.

Mousse looked expectantly at Cologne. "I thought you said you weren't thirsty?" She chided.

"Um… well…"

Cologne reached into the bag again and pulled out a bottle of Mousse's favorite sports drink, "It's been a long morning, you need to keep hydrated," she said handing him the bottle.

He took it and mumbled, "_Thank you,_" in Chinese.

They walked for about twenty minutes ending up in front of a large modern house about one block from where Yuzuyu lived. "Marika-chan lives here." Said the little girl pointing at the house.

"Okay," Cologne said turning to Mousse, "We need to know where Shampoo is and who is in there with her. I want you to scout around the house." Mousse turned to go, but Cologne stopped him saying, "No, you'll be seen if you go in looking that way."

"Oh no, not that Cologne. Please."

Cologne turned to the little girl, "Yuzuyu-chan, would you like to see some real magic?"

Yuzuyu nodded enthusiastically.

Cologne reached into the shopping bag and pulled out a two-liter bottle of water that she had previously removed the cap from. In one swift motion she swung the bottle around sending a stream of cold water directly at the tall boy, who dissolved before their eyes into a large heap of clothing.

Yuzuyu gasped in surprise and then burst into laughter when a single loud indignant quack erupted from the pile. She stepped closer and looked down at the large white duck sitting in the middle of the pile, its head rotating randomly as it looked around in confusion. Hesitantly she reached out her hand.

"Go ahead," said Cologne, "he doesn't bite. That's Mousse-san in his cur… enchanted form. Why don't you pick him up?"

"Really?" Yuzuyu beamed at the prospect. She reached down and got her arms around Mousse who began quacking excitedly. As she lifted the big duck free of the pile of clothing, Cologne reached into it and searched around until she turned up a pair of thick eyeglasses. While the little girl held the squirming duck in her arms, the old woman balanced the glasses precariously on its bill.

"There," Cologne said, "now he can see better. Put him down Yuzuyu and then he can go find Shampoo."

"Okay!" cried Yuzuyu kneeling down and placing Mousse of the sidewalk. As she stood back up, the duck turned and bowed to her, then flapped its wings a few times before taking off over the fence and into the yard behind Marika's house.

o o o

Inside the house, Shampoo stood at the center of the living room panting heavily. She did not take her eyes off the heap of orange fur that lay against the far wall of the room amidst shards of broken pottery and silk flowers. That was Mr. Jinku and Shampoo had just foiled his latest attempt to mount her. She was surprised that he had been thrown so far this time, considering that she was exhausted from a sleepless night avoiding his fourteen previous attempts.

Mr. Jinku was a minor annoyance compared to everything else she had been subjected to since being brought here. She had planned to make a run for it the moment her captor had opened the cage in the back of the car, but the woman was either too intelligent or too experienced in handling stray animals at her daughter's whim. Instead she carried the whole cage into the house and directly to the bathroom.

Had Shampoo known what was in store for her at the time she would have jumped into the tub of hot water and bolted naked from the house, but instead she endured a cold bath with some smelly flea soup, a quick blow dry that made her fur stand up strangely, and then being sprayed with some awful perfume that reminded her of old fruit.

Marika's mother had unceremonially removed the elastic band from around her neck, ignoring the nametag, and thrown it into the trash bin. At the insistence of the little girl it was replaced by a huge pink bow, the shredded remains of which still clung tenaciously around her neck.

Marika-chan had renamed her Princess Jasmine and made Shampoo endure a long evening of "playing" magic princess games. These most often consisted of her being thrown into the air and commanded to "Disappear magic Princess Jasmine!" The girl soon grew tired of these games and of Shampoo, who resolutely refused to play along with anything the little brat wanted her to do.

That's when she had been introduced to Mr. Jinku, the family's fat orange tabby cat. A single can of smelly cat food had been dumped into a bowl and placed on the kitchen floor by Marika's mother. She shook a finger at Mr. Jinku and told him to share his dinner with Princess Jasmine, but of course only Shampoo actually understood those words. After getting a good whiff of the foul mystery meat, she gladly let the portly tomcat have it all to himself.

It wasn't until after lights out that Mr. Jinku's amorous attentions to her began. She had been searching the house for someway out, when he had first jumped on her back from the staircase. She thought she had sent him flying far enough that first time to dissuade him from anymore passionate performances, but ten minutes later he was back again. She never found a way out and even her yowling trick in the middle of the night had done nothing to awaken the household or secure her freedom.

Marika's mother stormed in from the kitchen, took one look at the broken vase and the unconscious Mr. Jinku and screamed, "That's it! I've had enough of this," she grabbed Shampoo by the scruff of the neck again and lifted the cat right up to her face, "You are going to learn how to behave, Princess or you are going to end up at the pound! Let's see what a little timeout will do."

She carried Shampoo back into the kitchen. The warrior in Shampoo was still stymied by this strange hold Marika's mother seemed to have mastered. Nothing in all her training seemed effective at either breaking the hold or over coming the strange paralysis that it induced. If she ever got out of this house, she would have to consult Cologne about some way to combat it. She shuddered to think what might happen if Akane or Ukyou ever learned it.

There was a large wire cage in one corner of the kitchen and this is where the woman put Shampoo. Shampoo reassessed her situation. At least inside this cage Mr. Jinku would not be able to get at her, so maybe she could finally get some sleep.

A few minutes later however, Marika's mother returned from the living room carrying the tabby cat in her arms. She opened the cage door and laid the still unconscious cat inside with Shampoo, "Now don't fight anymore or you can both just stay in there for the rest of the day."

Shampoo stared uneasily at the big tomcat. In this confined space she wouldn't be able to get the leverage needed to throw him. Nor was there anywhere _to_ throw him! In her current state of exhaustion she wouldn't be able to over power him either. Slowly she backed into the corner of the cage and began praying to her ancestors that the huge lump of orange fur would never wake up.

o o o

Cologne kept Yuzuyu amused by quizzing her on her numbers and teaching her a word or two of Chinese. At the same time she went rummaging through Mousse's robes. Amidst the various chains, knives, throwing disks and household items she found a small cast iron teapot.

She filled it with cold water from the bottle and then held it in her right hand. She had Yuzuyu stand back and then focusing her ki into the palm of that hand. The teapot began to glow red and steam quickly began to escape from the spout. Yuzuyu clapped delightedly at this "magic" trick.

Mousse appeared quacking excitedly. He landed and continued his noisy antics, which made Yuzuyu laugh. Picking up the still steamy kettle, Cologne pointed at the pile of clothes and Mousse quickly jumped inside. She poured the hot water and stepped back as the tall black haired boy returned to normal.

"Shampoo is being held in the kitchen," he reported as soon as he got his voice back, "there is a woman in there too washing vegetables. The rest of the house appears to be empty."

"Good," said Cologne, "All we need to do is knock on the front door and great-granddaughter can slip out when the woman comes to answer it."

Mousse shook his head, "Shampoo is inside a cage."

"That does complicate matters," Cologne sighed, pulling at her lower lip in thought.

"That's not all," Mousse said in a worried tone, "she's not alone. There's another cat in the cage with her, a big tomcat from the look of it. I say we just knock on the front door, force our way inside and get her out of there as quickly as possible."

"That's a fine idea Mousse," Cologne said sarcastically, "Then we can just head straight for the airport because we'll all be deported after we are arrested. No, we need to be subtler than that. We need to get that woman out of the house so that we can get in, but we don't have the luxury of time to work out something complex."

"I can't think of anything," Mousse said dejectedly. Even Yuzuyu shook her head, in spite of the fact that she had no idea what the adults were talking about.

"There is on thing we might try," Cologne said with a sidelong glance at Mousse, "but it requires the services of a lame duck."

Mousse hung his head and muttered, "Not again…"

o o o

Marika's mother had just put a pot of water on to boil and was beginning to chop up some vegetables when she heard a racket coming from the backyard. She went to the sliding glass doors to see what it was and there, in Marika's plastic swimming pool, was a white duck trashing about as if it were wounded.

"Oh my goodness," she cried out as her hand flew to her mouth. She slid open the door and rushed outside shouting, "Shoo! Go away! Get out!" The duck continued to make noise and when it wouldn't go away she ran back to the house to call the police and found the door closed, locked and the curtains drawn. Suddenly the duck making the racket went silent and by the time she turned around the pool was empty.

The sound of the duck struggling in the backyard had brought Mr. Jinku back to life. Now Shampoo was facing him down, circling as best she could to maintain the greatest distance between the randy tomcat and her backside, but the cage was too small and he finally managed to corner her.

There was no way she was going to let this fat disgusting feline have that which she was saving for her Airen. She lunged at the big cat with her claws fully extended and raked them across his face drawing first blood.

Mr. Jinku yowled in pain and surprise, but the attack had the opposite effect that Shampoo had hoped. He came back hissing with anger, the hair on his back standing straight up and his fangs bared. Her took a swipe at Shampoo and she rolled with the punch, effectively avoiding his claws, but she slammed into the far side of the cage and for just one moment her tail was unprotected. Mr. Jinku wasted no time in mounting her. She yowled in rage, but he had her pinned.

Suddenly the cage was awash in boiling hot water as Cologne upended the cooking pot from the stove. The wire cage exploded as Shampoo leapt across the room with Mr. Jinku's neck locked firmly in her left fist. They slammed into the wall next to the door and came to rest with Shampoo crouching over the tomcat. Her breath was coming in irregular gasps and foam dripped from the corners of her mouth. She drew back her right arm as red sparks of ki energy began to fly from her fingertips. Her hand formed into a claw as a primal scream of rage erupted from her throat, "_Die a thousand deaths!_"

"_STOP!_" Cologne commanded in Chinese, "_Not in front of the child!_"

Shampoo froze and her head whipped around to find Yuzuyu standing just in front of the door, her adorable big eyes wide with fright. The red glow faded from Shampoo's hand as she relaxed her grip on Mr. Jinku. The big cat dropped limply to the floor as Cologne stepped up and began to stroke Shampoo's wet hair.

"He is only a cat great-granddaughter and he was only doing what a cat by nature is supposed to do."

Shampoo looked down at the big orange cat, his fur soaked and matted. Her hand was still held in a claw behind her head. She extended it towards the cat slowly. Rather than rip his heart from his body, as she had been about to do, she gathered up the loose skin behind his head and lifted him up to face her, "Mister Jinku stupid. No mean no, even for cat."

Shampoo stood and crossed to the mangled remains of the cage in the corner. She set Mr. Jinku gently down into it and stroked his wet fur a few times to calm him. Then she turned to Yuzuyu. The little girl's eyes were still wide, but the fear seemed to have changed to wonder.

Cologne held out the same white dress Shampoo had worn the day before and she quickly pulled it over her head. Leaving the buttons undone, she crossed to where Yuzuyu was and kneeled down before the child.

"Princess Shampoo can talk?" Yuzuyu asked timidly.

Shmapoo nodded, "Yes, Shampoo can talk." Her face began to turn red with embarrassment as she become painfully aware of her heavy accent and limited vocabulary.

Cologne stepped up and put her hand on Shampoo's shoulder, "Yuzuyu-chan," she said, "Princess Shampoo is from China. She is only beginning to learn Japanese, just like you."

Yuzuyu smiled and Shampoo smiled back, but then she bowed her head again, "Shampoo very sorry make Yuzuyu frightened. Yuzuyu forgive Shampoo?"

"Yes!" cried out the little girl as she wrapped her arms around Shampoo's neck. Shampoo returned the hug and tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

There was a tapping at the back door and Cologne opened it just enough to let Mousse into the room. She dropped his robes on the floor and then went to the sink for more hot water. As soon as Mousse was restored to human form he made his report, "The woman has gone to fetch a policeman, we should get out of here as quickly as possible."

Shampoo was still hugging Yuzuyu when Cologne squeezed her shoulder and said softly, "Great-granddaughter, we must go now." Shampoo stood up with the little girl still held tightly in her arms and ran out the door as Mousse held it open.

Cologne refilled the stew pot and put it back on the stove and then quickly searched the room for any evidence of their presence there. As she stood in the open doorway, she wondered what the woman was going to tell the policeman when they returned to find the door open and the kitchen in ruins.

o o o

Satsuki stuck his head in the door and saw Yuzuyu on the floor with her crayons, "Dinner is almost ready Yuzuyu-chan, go wash your hands."

"Okay, Satsuki-onii-chan!" she cried out, but she continued to color in the picture she was working on.

Curious, Satsuki came into the room and stood over the little girl and looking intently at her drawings. There was one of Yuzuyu, Shampoo-chan and a girl with black pigtails at a playground, another one that looked like a child with a prune in place of its head and the one she was just finishing up. It was her purple haired princess who for some reason was holding a white duck in her arms.

"Yuzuyu-chan, what's all this about? he asked.

The little girl looked up and said matter-of-factly, "Yuzuyu rescue magic princess from evil princess."

"Oh, I get it," he lied, "but why a duck?"

Yuzuyu giggled, "That not duck. That Moose!"

END – Part 4

All characters in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.

This work is copyright © 2006 by Juliet Carnell, it is not public domain and all rights are reserved. This work is not for publication. This work may not be reproduced, distributed or sold in any format or media. This work may not be included in any collection without the express written permission of the author. The reader may make one printed or electronic copy of this work for personal use.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Ranma ½' are copyright © 1987-1996 by Takahashi Rumiko and are used here without license.

Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Aishiteruze Baby' are copyright © 2002-2005 by Maki Youko and are used here without license.


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